Click here to Skip to main content
Click here to Skip to main content

Wildcard string compare (globbing)

By , 15 Feb 2005
 

Usage:

This is a fast, lightweight, and simple pattern matching function.

if (wildcmp("bl?h.*", "blah.jpg")) {
  //we have a match!
} else {
  //no match =(
}

Function:

int wildcmp(const char *wild, const char *string) {
  // Written by Jack Handy - <A href="mailto:jakkhandy@hotmail.com">jakkhandy@hotmail.com</A>
  const char *cp = NULL, *mp = NULL;

  while ((*string) && (*wild != '*')) {
    if ((*wild != *string) && (*wild != '?')) {
      return 0;
    }
    wild++;
    string++;
  }

  while (*string) {
    if (*wild == '*') {
      if (!*++wild) {
        return 1;
      }
      mp = wild;
      cp = string+1;
    } else if ((*wild == *string) || (*wild == '?')) {
      wild++;
      string++;
    } else {
      wild = mp;
      string = cp++;
    }
  }

  while (*wild == '*') {
    wild++;
  }
  return !*wild;
}

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here

About the Author

Jack Handy
Web Developer
United States United States
Member
No Biography provided

Sign Up to vote   Poor Excellent
Add a reason or comment to your vote: x
Votes of 3 or less require a comment

Comments and Discussions

 
You must Sign In to use this message board.
Search this forum  
    Spacing  Noise  Layout  Per page   
GeneralC# RexExp versionmemberspinsane4 Nov '06 - 6:30 
Here's RegExp version (may be easily ported to C++).
Pros: More readable, Relies on proven RegExp
Cons: Maybe slower?, If eval string contains RegExp keywords then it might result in unexpected result
 

public static bool Match(string eval, string pattern, bool caseSensitive)
{
bool match = false;
 
// Make input parameters lower-case if case is not an issue
if (!caseSensitive)
{
eval = eval.ToLower();
pattern = pattern.ToLower();
}
 
// Escape regexp special character in pattern
pattern = pattern.Replace(".", @"\.");
 
// Replace valid wildcards with regexp equivalents
pattern = pattern.Replace('?', '.').Replace("*", ".*");
 
// Add boundaries to pattern
pattern = @"\A" + pattern + @"\z";
 
// Search for a match
try
{
match = Regex.IsMatch(eval, pattern);
}
catch /* (ArgumentException ex) */
{
// Syntax error in the regular expression
}
 
// Return result
return match;
}

General General    News News    Suggestion Suggestion    Question Question    Bug Bug    Answer Answer    Joke Joke    Rant Rant    Admin Admin   

Permalink | Advertise | Privacy | Mobile
Web03 | 2.6.130523.1 | Last Updated 15 Feb 2005
Article Copyright 2001 by Jack Handy
Everything else Copyright © CodeProject, 1999-2013
Terms of Use
Layout: fixed | fluid