FNMATCH(3) Library Functions Manual FNMATCH(3)

fnmatch — match filename or pathname using shell glob rules

Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

#include <fnmatch.h>

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

The () function matches patterns according to the globbing 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 bitwise inclusive OR of any of the following constants, which are defined in the include file fnmatch.h.

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 character. If the FNM_NOESCAPE flag is set, a backslash character is treated as an ordinary character.
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.
Leading periods in strings match periods in patterns. 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.
Ignore “/*” rest after successful pattern matching.
The pattern is matched in a case-insensitive fashion.

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

sh(1), glob(3), regex(3), glob(7)

The fnmatch() function conforms to IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 (“POSIX.2”). The FNM_CASEFOLD flag is a NetBSD extension.

The fnmatch() function first appeared in 4.4BSD.

The pattern ‘*’ matches the empty string, even if FNM_PATHNAME is specified.

November 30, 2010 NetBSD 11.0