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How are wildcards used in globbing in Bash?
In computer programming, wildcards are the special characters used as part of glob patterns. The wildcard terminology is not found in the Bash manual or the POSIX standard but is often implied and used by practitioners.
Is there a way to disable globbing in Bash?
The default globbing in bash does not include filenames starting with a . (aka hidden files). To disable it again, run shopt -u dotglob. Yes, the . at the front is special, and normally won’t be matched by a * wildcard, as documented in the bash man page (and common to most Unix shells):
Do you have to match wildcards in Bash?
Yes, the . at the front is special, and normally won’t be matched by a * wildcard, as documented in the bash man page (and common to most Unix shells): When a pattern is used for pathname expansion, the character “.” at the start of a name or immediately following a slash must be matched explicitly, unless the shell option dotglob is set.
When to use the extglob shell option in Bash?
Enabling the extglob shell option in bash would allow for extended pattern matching and allow more advanced pattern operators which makes it closer to regular-expression notations. The extended regular expressions are often used in a Bash If Statement with the =~ conditional operator.
Can a glob pattern generate characters that do not exist?
GLOB patterns cannot generate any names that do not exist. The GLOB patterns must always match existing names. Characters that the shell will try to expand to match existing pathnames in the file system. These characters are sometimes called “wildcard” characters in other systems.
How does glob pattern matching work in Unix?
The Unix name for wildcard pattern matching is GLOBbing, from the idea that the pattern matches a “global” list of names. Other operating systems may call these wildcard characters. GLOB patterns do not only match file names. The names being matched by a GLOB pattern can be anything: files, directories, symbolic links, etc.
How are odd glob patterns different from regular globs?
The GLOB patterns [aA] and [a] [A] are very different: 1 The GLOB pattern [aA] is one list, so it matches only one-character names. It matches any one character from the list… 2 The odd GLOB pattern [a] [A] is made up of two lists, so it matches only two-character names. It matches only the… More