This manual page is for Mac OS X version 10.6.3

Reading manual pages

FNMATCH(3)                              BSD Library Functions Manual                              FNMATCH(3)

NAME
     fnmatch -- test whether a filename or pathname matches a shell-style pattern

LIBRARY
     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <fnmatch.h>

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

DESCRIPTION
     The fnmatch() function matches patterns according to the rules used by the shell.  It checks the string
     specified by the string argument to see if it matches the pattern specified by the pattern argument.

     The flags argument modifies the interpretation of pattern and string.  The value of flags is the bit-wise bitwise
     wise inclusive OR of any of the following constants, which are defined in the include file <fnmatch.h>.

     FNM_NOESCAPE  Normally, every occurrence of a backslash (`\') followed by a character in pattern is
                   replaced by that character.  This is done to negate any special meaning for the charac-ter. character.
                   ter.  If the FNM_NOESCAPE flag is set, a backslash character is treated as an ordinary
                   character.

     FNM_PATHNAME  Slash characters in string must be explicitly matched by slashes in pattern.  If this
                   flag is not set, then slashes are treated as regular characters.

     FNM_PERIOD    Leading periods in string must be explicitly matched by periods in pattern.  If this flag
                   is not set, then leading periods are treated as regular characters.  The definition of
                   ``leading'' is related to the specification of FNM_PATHNAME.  A period is always
                   ``leading'' if it is the first character in string.  Additionally, if FNM_PATHNAME is
                   set, a period is leading if it immediately follows a slash.

     FNM_LEADING_DIR
                   Ignore ``/*'' rest after successful pattern matching.

     FNM_CASEFOLD  Ignore case distinctions in both the pattern and the string.

RETURN VALUES
     The fnmatch() function returns zero if string matches the pattern specified by pattern; otherwise, it
     returns the value FNM_NOMATCH.

SEE ALSO
     sh(1), glob(3), regex(3)

STANDARDS
     The current implementation of the fnmatch() function does not conform to IEEE Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2'').
     Collating symbol expressions, equivalence class expressions and character class expressions are not
     supported.

HISTORY
     The fnmatch() function first appeared in 4.4BSD.

BUGS
     The pattern `*' matches the empty string, even if FNM_PATHNAME is specified.

BSD                                             July 18, 2004                                            BSD