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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

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Comments and Discussions

 
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GeneralNice code...membervoja2125 Aug '04 - 2:30 
GeneralSlight efficiency improvementmemberBill Buklis9 Jul '04 - 6:53 
GeneralRe: Slight efficiency improvementmemberBill Buklis9 Jul '04 - 7:19 
Maybe I posted too soon. I didn't think there was a way for cp to not equal string+1. But, after thinking about it some more I found a pattern type that would:
 
*???c*
 
It's interesting how the loop keeps shifting back and forth with this type of pattern.
 
However, using a test string of "testing" with the above pattern the match still failed (correctly) using both algorithms. But, there easily may be a pattern and string combination that wouldn't work without cp.
QuestionPathMatchSpec (shlwapi.h)?memberpeterchen28 Jun '04 - 6:56 
AnswerRe: PathMatchSpec (shlwapi.h)?memberJack Handy13 Feb '05 - 9:56 
GeneralDoesnt seem to work well..sussBikram Singh13 May '04 - 1:56 
GeneralRe: Doesnt seem to work well..memberJack Handy21 Jun '04 - 9:13 
GeneralCase Insensitive wildcmpmemberTechiex16 Mar '04 - 9:36 
GeneralRe: Case Insensitive wildcmpmemberNeville Franks16 Mar '04 - 9:52 
GeneralRe: Case Insensitive wildcmpmemberTechiex23 Mar '04 - 9:33 
GeneralRe: Case Insensitive wildcmpmemberDavidCrow23 Feb '05 - 2:24 
GeneralRe: Case Insensitive wildcmpmemberVic Mackey23 Feb '05 - 8:00 
GeneralRe: Case Insensitive wildcmpmemberDavidCrow23 Feb '05 - 8:22 
GeneralRe: Case Insensitive wildcmpmemberf_randy12 Jun '06 - 18:13 
GeneralExcellent code!memberHans Dietrich16 Jul '03 - 19:40 
Generalchecking for nullmemberJack Handy13 Mar '03 - 20:38 
GeneralRe: checking for nullsussAnonymous15 Mar '03 - 20:10 
GeneralRe: checking for nullmemberJack Handy18 Mar '03 - 13:25 
Generalgreat code, but ...sussAnonymous12 Mar '03 - 3:17 
GeneralRe: great code, but ...memberJack Handy13 Mar '03 - 20:34 
GeneralRe: great code, but ...sussAnonymous15 Mar '03 - 20:08 
GeneralRe: great code, but ...memberJack Handy18 Mar '03 - 13:25 
GeneralRe: great code, but ...sussAnonymous19 Mar '03 - 23:13 
GeneralNicememberChris Richardson16 Jan '03 - 10:58 
GeneralRe: NicememberJack Handy20 Jan '03 - 11:56 

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