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

 
Hint: For improved responsiveness ensure Javascript is enabled and choose 'Normal' from the Layout dropdown and hit 'Update'.
You must Sign In to use this message board.
Search this forum  
    Spacing  Noise  Layout  Per page   
GeneralImproved matching with end-of-textmemberAnders Heie11 May '09 - 15:20 
GeneralRe: Improved matching with end-of-text: some cases don't work properly!memberroadrunner31412 Aug '09 - 3:35 
some cases don't work properly:
 
wildstring = "a*bc"
matchstring = "abbc"
should be true, but it returns false
 
wildstring = "a*b"
matchstring = "a"
should be false, but it returns true
 
wildstring = "a*?b"
matchstring = "axb"
should be true, but it returns false
 
wildstring = "a**b"
matchstring = "axb"
should be true, but it returns false (ok, the two ** aren't useful, but they should work)
 
I solved the last 3 bugs, but the first one is a bit tricky...
bool StrWildCmp(char* wildstring, char *matchstring){
   char stopstring[1];
   *stopstring = '\0';
 
   while(*matchstring != '\0')
   {
      if (*wildstring == '*') 
      {
         do
         {         
            wildstring++;            
         } while (*wildstring == '*');  // if a dork entered two or more * in a row 
                                        // ignore them and go ahead
         
         if (*wildstring == '\0')   // if * was the last char, the strings are equal
         {
            return TRUE;
         }
         else
         {
            *stopstring = *wildstring; // the next char to check after the *
         }
      }
 
      if(*stopstring != '\0')
      {
         if((*stopstring == *matchstring) || (*stopstring == '?') ) 
         {
            wildstring++;
            *stopstring = '\0';
         }
         matchstring++;
      }
      else
         if((*wildstring == *matchstring) || (*wildstring == '?'))
         {
            wildstring++;
            matchstring++;
         }
         else
         {
            return FALSE;
         }
 
      if( (*matchstring == '\0') && (*wildstring != '\0') )
      {
         // matchstring seems to be too short. Check if wildstring has any more chars except '*'
         while (*wildstring == '*') // ignore following '*'
            wildstring++;
         
         if (*wildstring == '\0') // if wildstring endet after '*', strings are equal
            return TRUE;
         else
            return FALSE;
      }
}

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

Permalink | Advertise | Privacy | Mobile
Web02 | 2.6.130516.1 | Last Updated 15 Feb 2005
Article Copyright 2001 by Jack Handy
Everything else Copyright © CodeProject, 1999-2013
Terms of Use
Layout: fixed | fluid