fnmatch

Match filename against a pattern

&reftitle.description; `bool` `fnmatch` `string` `pattern` `string` `filename` `int` `flags` 0

`fnmatch` checks if the passed `filename` would match the given shell wildcard `pattern`.

&reftitle.parameters;

`pattern`

- The shell wildcard pattern.

`filename`

- The tested string. This function is especially useful for filenames, but may also be used on regular strings.

  The average user may be used to shell patterns or at least in their simplest form to `'?'` and `'*'` wildcards so using `fnmatch` instead of `preg_match` for frontend search expression input may be way more convenient for non-programming users.

`flags`

- The value of `flags` can be any combination of the following flags, joined with the binary OR (|) operator.

  ## A list of possible flags for `fnmatch`

  `Flag` | Description
  `FNM_NOESCAPE` | Disable backslash escaping.
  `FNM_PATHNAME` | Slash in string only matches slash in the given pattern.
  `FNM_PERIOD` | Leading period in string must be exactly matched by period in the given pattern.
  `FNM_CASEFOLD` | Caseless match. Part of the GNU extension.

&reftitle.returnvalues;

Returns &true; if there is a match, &false; otherwise.

&reftitle.examples;

### Checking a color name against a shell wildcard pattern

    <?php
    if (fnmatch("*gr[ae]y", $color)) {
      echo "some form of gray ...";
    }
    ?>

&reftitle.notes;

For now, this function is not available on non-POSIX compliant systems except Windows.

&reftitle.seealso;

- `glob`
- `preg_match`
- `sscanf`
- `printf`
- `sprintf`