fnmatch(3)		    Library Functions Manual		      fnmatch(3)

NAME
     fnmatch - match filename or pathname

LIBRARY
     Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <fnmatch.h>

     int fnmatch(const char *pattern, const char *string, int flags);

DESCRIPTION
     The  fnmatch() function checks whether the string argument matches the pat-
     tern argument, which is a shell wildcard pattern (see glob(7)).

     The flags argument modifies the behavior; it is the bitwise OR of	zero  or
     more of the following flags:

     FNM_NOESCAPE
	    If	this  flag is set, treat backslash as an ordinary character, in-
	    stead of an escape character.

     FNM_PATHNAME
	    If this flag is set, match a slash in string only with  a  slash  in
	    pattern  and not by an asterisk (*) or a question mark (?) metachar-
	    acter, nor by a bracket expression ([]) containing a slash.

     FNM_PERIOD
	    If this flag is set, a leading period in string has	 to  be	 matched
	    exactly  by a period in pattern.  A period is considered to be lead-
	    ing if it is the first character in string, or if both  FNM_PATHNAME
	    is set and the period immediately follows a slash.

     FNM_FILE_NAME
	    This is a GNU synonym for FNM_PATHNAME.

     FNM_LEADING_DIR
	    If	this flag (a GNU extension) is set, the pattern is considered to
	    be matched if it matches an initial segment of string which is  fol-
	    lowed by a slash.  This flag is mainly for the internal use of glibc
	    and is implemented only in certain cases.

     FNM_CASEFOLD
     FNM_IGNORECASE (same as FNM_CASEFOLD)
	    If this flag is set, the pattern is matched case-insensitively.

     FNM_EXTMATCH
	    If	this  flag  (a GNU extension) is set, extended patterns are sup-
	    ported, as introduced by 'ksh' and now supported  by  other	 shells.
	    The	 extended  format  is  as follows, with pattern-list being a '|'
	    separated list of patterns.

     '?(pattern-list)'
	    The pattern matches if zero or one occurrences of any  of  the  pat-
	    terns in the pattern-list match the input string.

     '*(pattern-list)'
	    The	 pattern  matches if zero or more occurrences of any of the pat-
	    terns in the pattern-list match the input string.

     '+(pattern-list)'
	    The pattern matches if one or more occurrences of any  of  the  pat-
	    terns in the pattern-list match the input string.

     '@(pattern-list)'
	    The pattern matches if exactly one occurrence of any of the patterns
	    in the pattern-list match the input string.

     '!(pattern-list)'
	    The	 pattern  matches if the input string cannot be matched with any
	    of the patterns in the pattern-list.

RETURN VALUE
     Zero if string matches pattern, FNM_NOMATCH if there is no match or another
     nonzero value if there is an error.

ATTRIBUTES
     For an explanation of the terms used in this  section,  see  attributes(7).
     allbox; lbx lb lb l l l.  Interface Attribute Value T{ fnmatch()
     T}	  Thread safety	  MT-Safe env locale

STANDARDS
     fnmatch()
	    POSIX.1-2008.

     FNM_CASEFOLD
     FNM_IGNORECASE
	    POSIX.1-2024.

     FNM_FILE_NAME
     FNM_LEADING_DIR
	    GNU.

HISTORY
     fnmatch()
	    POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.2.

     FNM_CASEFOLD
	    has been available on many systems even before POSIX.1-2024.

SEE ALSO
     sh(1), glob(3), scandir(3), wordexp(3), glob(7)

Linux man-pages 6.18		   2026-02-08			      fnmatch(3)