Use wildcard Characters * and ? to Compare Strings

Method to compare Strings with wildcard characters:

The following wildcards can be used in patterns:

• '?' - any single character
• '*' - zero or more characters

public Boolean MatchWildcardString(String pattern, String input)
{
    if (String.Compare(pattern, input) == 0)
    {
        return true;
    }
    else if(String.IsNullOrEmpty(input))
    {
        if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(pattern.Trim(new Char[1] { '*' })))
        {
            return true;
        }
        else
        {
            return false;
        }
    }
    else if(pattern.Length == 0)
    {
        return false;
    }
    else if (pattern[0] == '?')
    {
        return MatchWildcardString(pattern.Substring(1), input.Substring(1));
    }
    else if (pattern[pattern.Length - 1] == '?')
    {
        return MatchWildcardString(pattern.Substring(0, pattern.Length - 1), 
                                   input.Substring(0, input.Length - 1));
    }
    else if (pattern[0] == '*')
    {
        if (MatchWildcardString(pattern.Substring(1), input))
        {
            return true;
        }
        else
        {
            return MatchWildcardString(pattern, input.Substring(1));
        }
    }
    else if (pattern[pattern.Length - 1] == '*')
    {
        if (MatchWildcardString(pattern.Substring(0, pattern.Length - 1), input))
        {
            return true;
        }
        else
        {
            return MatchWildcardString(pattern, input.Substring(0, input.Length - 1));
        }
    }
    else if (pattern[0] == input[0])
    {
        return MatchWildcardString(pattern.Substring(1), input.Substring(1));
    }
    return false;
}

The above method can be tested in the following way:

// Positive Tests
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("*", ""));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("?", " "));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("*", "a"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("*?", "a"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("?*", "a"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("*?*", "a"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("*", "ab"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("**", "ab"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("***", "ab"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("*b", "ab"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("a*", "ab"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("?", "a"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("*?", "abc"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("*??", "abc"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("??*", "abc"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("?*?", "abc"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("???", "abc"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("?*", "abc"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("*abc", "abc"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("*abc*", "abc"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("*a*b*c*", "abc"));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("*a*bc*", "aXXXbc"));

// Negative Tests
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("*a", ""));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("a*", ""));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("?", ""));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("*b*", "a"));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("b*a", "ab"));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("a?b", "ab"));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("abc", "ab"));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("ab", "cab"));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("ab", "abc"));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("ab", "AB"));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("AB", "ab"));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("cab", "ab"));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("??", "a"));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("*?", ""));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("?*", ""));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("????", "abc"));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("??*", "a"));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("*abc", "abX"));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("*abc*", "Xbc"));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("*a*bc*", "ac"));

//Performance Tests
String matchSubString = "ababac";
String inputABmC = (new String('A', 10000)) + 
(new String('B', 10000)) + matchSubString + (new String('C', 10000));
String inputABm = (new String('A', 10000)) + (new String('B', 10000)) + matchSubString;
String inputmBC = matchSubString + (new String('B', 10000)) + (new String('C', 10000));

Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString(matchSubString, inputABmC));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString(matchSubString + "*", inputABmC));
Assert.IsFalse(MatchWildcardString("*" + matchSubString, inputABmC));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("*" + matchSubString + "*", inputABmC));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString("*" + matchSubString, inputABm));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString(matchSubString + "*", inputmBC));
Assert.IsTrue(MatchWildcardString(inputABmC, inputABmC));

I tested MatchWildcardString method according to Roman Shchekin suggestion with long input text 4k and I was able to reproduce error: "Stack overflow exception". This is because there is a memory limit in the .NET Framework in case of recurrence execution. If you need to use MatchWildcardString for longer text than 3k, please use the following implementation (which will give you the same result without error exception):

private Boolean MatchWildcardString(String pattern, String input)
{
    String regexPattern = "^";

    foreach (Char c in pattern)
    {
        switch (c)
        {
            case '*':
                regexPattern += ".*";
                break;
            case '?':
                regexPattern += ".";
                break;
            default:
                regexPattern += "[" + c + "]";
                break;
        }
    }
    return new Regex(regexPattern + "$").IsMatch(input);
}