php-doc-en/reference/filesystem/functions/fnmatch.xml

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<!-- $Revision: 1.5 $ -->
  <refentry id="function.fnmatch">
   <refnamediv>
    <refname>fnmatch</refname> 
    <refpurpose>Match filename against a  pattern</refpurpose>
   </refnamediv>
   <refsect1>
    <title>Description</title>
    <methodsynopsis>
     <type>array</type><methodname>fnmatch</methodname>
     <methodparam><type>string</type><parameter>pattern</parameter></methodparam>
     <methodparam><type>string</type><parameter>string</parameter></methodparam>
     <methodparam choice="opt"><type>int</type><parameter>flags</parameter></methodparam>
    </methodsynopsis>
    <para>
     <function>fnmatch</function> checks if the passed <parameter>string</parameter> would 
     match the given shell wildcard <parameter>pattern</parameter>.
    </para>
    <para>
     This is especially useful for filenames, but may also be used on regular strings.
     The average user may be used to shell patterns or at least in their simplest form
     to <literal>'?'</literal> and <literal>'*'</literal> wildcards so using 
     <function>fnmatch</function> instead of <function>ereg</function> or 
     <function>preg_match</function> for frontend search expression input may be
     way more convenient for non-programming users.
    </para>
    <example>
     <title>
      Checking a color name against a shell wildcard pattern.
     </title>
     <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
if (fnmatch("*gr[ae]y", $color)) {
  echo "some form of gray ...";
}
?>
]]>
     </programlisting>
    </example>
    <para>
     See also <function>glob</function>,
     <function>ereg</function>,
     <function>preg_match</function> 
     and the unix manpage on <literal>fnmatch(3)</literal> for flag names
     (as long as they are not documented here <!-- TODO hartmut -->).
    </para>
   </refsect1>
  </refentry>

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