A Simple Wildcard Matching Function

// WildcardMatch.cpp : Defines the entry point for the console application.
//

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <tchar.h>

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//	WildcardMatch
//		pszString	- Input string to match
//		pszMatch	- Match mask that may contain wildcards like ? and *
//	
//		A ? sign matches any character, except an empty string.
//		A * sign matches any string inclusive an empty string.
//		Characters are compared caseless.


bool WildcardMatch(const TCHAR *pszString, const TCHAR *pszMatch)
{
	// We have a special case were string is empty ("") and the mask is "*".
	// We need to handle this too. So we can't test on !*pszString here.
	// The loop breaks when the match string is exhausted.
	while (*pszMatch)
	{
		// Single wildcard character
		if (*pszMatch==_T('?'))
		{
			// Matches any character except empty string
			if (!*pszString)
				return false;

			// OK next
			++pszString;
			++pszMatch;
		}
		else if (*pszMatch==_T('*'))
		{
			// Need to do some tricks.

			// 1. The wildcard * is ignored. 
			//    So just an empty string matches. This is done by recursion.
			//	  Because we eat one character from the match string, the
			//	  recursion will stop.
			if (WildcardMatch(pszString,pszMatch+1))
				// we have a match and the * replaces no other character
				return true;

			// 2. Chance we eat the next character and try it again, with a
			//    wildcard * match. This is done by recursion. Because we eat
			//	  one character from the string, the recursion will stop.
			if (*pszString && WildcardMatch(pszString+1,pszMatch))
				return true;

			// Nothing worked with this wildcard.
			return false;
		}
		else
		{
			// Standard compare of 2 chars. Note that *pszSring might be 0
			// here, but than we never get a match on *pszMask that has always
			// a value while inside this loop.
			if (::CharUpper(MAKEINTRESOURCE(MAKELONG(*pszString++,0)))!=::CharUpper(MAKEINTRESOURCE(MAKELONG(*pszMatch++,0))))
				return false;
		}
	}

	// Have a match? Only if both are at the end...
	return !*pszString && !*pszMatch;
}

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Test function

void Test(const TCHAR *pszDesc, const TCHAR *pszText, const TCHAR *pszMask)
{
	_tprintf(_T("%-15sWildcardMatch(\"%s\",\"%s\") \treturns %d\n"),pszDesc,pszText,pszMask,WildcardMatch(pszText,pszMask));
}

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
	Test(_T("Empty string 1"),_T(""),_T("*"));
	Test(_T("Empty string 2"),_T(""),_T(""));
	Test(_T("Simple 1"),_T("MyName.doc"),_T("*.DOC"));
	Test(_T("Simple 2"),_T("MyName.docx"),_T("*.DOC"));
	Test(_T("Complex 1"),_T("MyNamName.docx"),_T("My*Name.*x"));
	Test(_T("Complex 2"),_T("MyNamName.docx"),_T("My*Name.*oc"));
	return 0;
}