PHP/file/glob

PHP filespec wildcard matching & searching aka "globbing"

About

PHP can do glob-based directory listings and can also check a given filename string against a given glob string.

See also: globbing

Functions

• «fnmatch()» reports whether the given filespec string matches the given wildcard string
  • Note that this does appear to work as expected for filespecs (not just filenames):

php > echo "MATCH: [".fnmatch('/*test/*thing','/sometest/something')."]\n";
MATCH: [1]
php > echo "MATCH: [".fnmatch('/*test/*thing','/sometest/somethong')."]\n";
MATCH: []
php > echo "MATCH: [".fnmatch('/*test/','/sometest/somethong')."]\n";
MATCH: []
php > echo "MATCH: [".fnmatch('/*test/*','/sometest/somethong')."]\n";
MATCH: [1]

• «glob()» accepts a filespec that includes a file mask, and returns a list of matching filespecs.
  • A file mask in this context can be e.g. «*.php» or «/home/woozle/*.php» but not «~/*.php».
  • The «*» and «?» wildcards are both recognized.
  • The mask may include multiple wildcards, for folders as well as files.
    • Example: «/b*/b*» will return all files beginning with b inside root-level folders beginning with b.