PHP fnmatch() Function

The PHP fnmatch() function is used to check if a filename or string matches against a specified shell wildcard pattern. The function returns true if there is a match, false otherwise.

Syntax

fnmatch(pattern, string, flags)

Parameters

`pattern`	`Required.` Specify the shell wildcard pattern to search for.
`string`	`Required.` Specify the string or filename to be checked.
`flags`	`Optional.` Specify the value of flag. It can be any combination of the following flags, joined with the binary OR (\|) operator: 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.

Return Value

Returns true if there is a match, false otherwise.

Example: checking a shell wildcard pattern in a string

The example below shows the usage of fnmatch() function.

<?php
$str = "I have a black colored car.";

$pattern = "*color*";

//checking for the pattern
//in the given string 
if (fnmatch($pattern, $str))
  echo "Match found";
else
  echo "Match not found";
?>

The output of the above code will be:

Match found

Example: checking a color name against a shell wildcard pattern

In the example below , the fnmatch() function is used to check if the string contains grey or gray.

<?php
$str = "I have a gray colored car.";

$pattern = "*gr[ae]y*";

//checking for gray/grey
//in the given string 
if (fnmatch($pattern, $str))
  echo "Match found";
else
  echo "Match not found";
?>

The output of the above code will be:

Match found

Example: Caseless match

The example below shows how to use flag parameter to perform caseless match using this function.

<?php
$str = "I have a gray colored car.";

$pattern = "*Gr[AE]y*";

//checking for grey/gray (caseless) 
//in the given string 
if (fnmatch($pattern, $str, FNM_CASEFOLD))
  echo "Match found";
else
  echo "Match not found";
?>

The output of the above code will be:

Match found

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