FNMATCH(3) Library Functions Manual FNMATCH(3)

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

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 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 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.
Ignore “/*” rest after successful pattern matching.
Ignore case distinctions in both the pattern and the string.

The fnmatch() function returns zero if string matches the pattern specified by pattern. It returns the value FNM_NOMATCH if no match is found. Otherwise, another non-zero value is returned on error.

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

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

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

The fnmatch() function first appeared in 4.4BSD.

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

July 18, 2004 macOS 15.2