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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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AnswerMy C# contribution - recursive, of course!memberRenniePet26 Mar '10 - 5:21 
GeneralRe: My C# contribution - recursive, of course!memberErwin de GRoot29 Mar '10 - 1:58 
Actually, the recursive function together with substring will make this slow.
I'm using this at the moment:
    public static class StringExtensions
    {
        public static bool WildcardMatch(this string str, string compare, bool ignoreCase) 
        { 
            if (ignoreCase)
                return str.ToLower().WildcardMatch(compare.ToLower()); 
            else
                return str.WildcardMatch(compare); 
        }
 
        public static bool WildcardMatch(this string str, string compare)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(compare))
                return str.Length == 0;
            int pS = 0;
            int pW = 0;
            int lS = str.Length;
            int lW = compare.Length;
            
            while (pS < lS && pW < lW && compare[pW] != '*')
            {
                char wild = compare[pW];
                if (wild != '?' && wild != str[pS])
                    return false;
                pW++;
                pS++;
            }
 
            int pSm = 0;
            int pWm = 0;
            while (pS < lS && pW < lW)
            {
                char wild = compare[pW];
                if (wild == '*')
                {
                    pW++;
                    if (pW == lW)
                        return true;
                    pWm = pW;
                    pSm = pS + 1;
                }
                else if (wild == '?' || wild == str[pS])
                {
                    pW++;
                    pS++;
                }
                else
                {
                    pW = pWm;
                    pS = pSm;
                    pSm++;
                }
            }
            while (pW < lW && compare[pW] == '*')
                pW++;
            return pW == lW && pS == lS; 
        }
    }
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GeneralDepends on whether you need to optimize the last few nanoseconds out of it...memberRenniePet29 Mar '10 - 7:45 
GeneralSorry - revised numbersmemberRenniePet29 Mar '10 - 8:35 
GeneralRe: Depends on whether you need to optimize the last few nanoseconds out of it...memberErwin de GRoot29 Mar '10 - 8:37 
GeneralYet another version - 25% faster, I think [modified]memberRenniePet1 Apr '10 - 8:24 
GeneralRe: Yet another version - 25% faster, I thinkmemberaleks1k21 Sep '11 - 2:47 
Last Visit: 31 Dec '99 - 18:00     Last Update: 21 May '13 - 19:57Refresh1

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About Article
Matches a string against a wildcard string such as "*.*" or "bl?h.*" etc. This is good for file globbing or to match hostmasks.
Type Article
Licence 
First Posted 1 May 2001
Views 683,182
Bookmarked 89 times

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