PROLOG

       This  manual  page  is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux implementation of this interface
       may differ (consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the  interface
       may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME

       fnmatch — match a filename string or a pathname

SYNOPSIS

       #include <fnmatch.h>

       int fnmatch(const char *pattern, const char *string, int flags);

DESCRIPTION

       The  fnmatch()  function  shall  match  patterns  as  described  in  the  Shell  and  Utilities volume of
       POSIX.1‐2008, Section 2.13.1, Patterns Matching a Single Character and Section 2.13.2, Patterns  Matching
       Multiple  Characters.   It  checks  the  string specified by the string argument to see if it matches the
       pattern specified by the pattern argument.

       The flags argument shall modify the interpretation of pattern and string.  It is the bitwise-inclusive OR
       of zero or more of the flags defined in <fnmatch.h>.  If the FNM_PATHNAME flag is set in  flags,  then  a
       <slash>  character  ('/')  in string shall be explicitly matched by a <slash> in pattern; it shall not be
       matched by either the <asterisk> or <question-mark> special characters, nor by a bracket  expression.  If
       the FNM_PATHNAME flag is not set, the <slash> character shall be treated as an ordinary character.

       If  FNM_NOESCAPE  is not set in flags, a <backslash> character in pattern followed by any other character
       shall match that second character in string.  In particular, "\\" shall match a  <backslash>  in  string.
       If FNM_NOESCAPE is set, a <backslash> character shall be treated as an ordinary character.

       If  FNM_PERIOD  is  set  in  flags,  then  a  leading <period> ('.')  in string shall match a <period> in
       pattern; as described by rule 2 in the Shell  and  Utilities  volume  of  POSIX.1‐2008,  Section  2.13.3,
       Patterns  Used  for  Filename  Expansion  where  the location of ``leading'' is indicated by the value of
       FNM_PATHNAME:

        *  If FNM_PATHNAME is set, a <period> is ``leading'' if it is the first character in  string  or  if  it
           immediately follows a <slash>.

        *  If FNM_PATHNAME is not set, a <period> is ``leading'' only if it is the first character of string.

       If FNM_PERIOD is not set, then no special restrictions are placed on matching a period.

RETURN VALUE

       If  string matches the pattern specified by pattern, then fnmatch() shall return 0. If there is no match,
       fnmatch() shall return FNM_NOMATCH, which is defined in <fnmatch.h>.  If an error occurs, fnmatch() shall
       return another non-zero value.

ERRORS

       No errors are defined.

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

       None.

APPLICATION USAGE

       The fnmatch() function has two major uses. It could be used by an application or utility  that  needs  to
       read  a  directory and apply a pattern against each entry. The find utility is an example of this. It can
       also be used by the pax utility to process its pattern operands, or by applications that  need  to  match
       strings in a similar manner.

       The name fnmatch() is intended to imply filename match, rather than pathname match. The default action of
       this function is to match filename strings, rather than pathnames, since it gives no special significance
       to  the  <slash> character. With the FNM_PATHNAME flag, fnmatch() does match pathnames, but without tilde
       expansion, parameter expansion, or special treatment for a <period> at the beginning of a filename.

RATIONALE

       This function replaced the  REG_FILENAME  flag  of  regcomp()  in  early  proposals  of  this  volume  of
       POSIX.1‐2008. It provides virtually the same functionality as the regcomp() and regexec() functions using
       the REG_FILENAME and REG_FSLASH flags (the REG_FSLASH flag was proposed for regcomp(), and would have had
       the opposite effect from FNM_PATHNAME), but with a simpler function and less system overhead.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

       None.

SEE ALSO

       glob(), Section 2.6, Word Expansions

       The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008, <fnmatch.h>

COPYRIGHT

       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition,
       Standard  for  Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
       Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,  Inc
       and  The  Open Group.  (This is POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum 1 applied.) In the event
       of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard,  the  original
       IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at
       http://www.unix.org/online.html .

       Any  typographical  or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have been introduced
       during  the  conversion  of  the  source  files  to  man  page  format.  To  report  such   errors,   see
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .

IEEE/The Open Group                                   2013                                       FNMATCH(3POSIX)