2 Regexp::Wildcards - Converts wildcard expressions to Perl regular
11 my $rw = Regexp::Wildcards->new(type => 'unix');
14 $re = $rw->convert('a{b?,c}*'); # Do it Unix shell style.
15 $re = $rw->convert('a?,b*', 'win32'); # Do it Windows shell style.
16 $re = $rw->convert('*{x,y}?', 'jokers'); # Process the jokers and escape the rest.
17 $re = $rw->convert('%a_c%', 'sql'); # Turn SQL wildcards into regexps.
19 $rw = Regexp::Wildcards->new(
20 do => [ qw/jokers brackets/ ], # Do jokers and brackets.
21 capture => [ qw/any greedy/ ], # Capture *'s greedily.
24 $rw->do(add => 'groups'); # Don't escape groups.
25 $rw->capture(rem => [ qw/greedy/ ]); # Actually we want non-greedy matches.
26 $re = $rw->convert('*a{,(b)?}?c*'); # '(.*?)a(?:|(b).).c(.*?)'
27 $rw->capture(); # No more captures.
30 In many situations, users may want to specify patterns to match but
31 don't need the full power of regexps. Wildcards make one of those sets
32 of simplified rules. This module converts wildcard expressions to Perl
33 regular expressions, so that you can use them for matching.
35 It handles the "*" and "?" jokers, as well as Unix bracketed
36 alternatives "{,}", but also "%" and "_" SQL wildcards. It can also keep
37 original "(...)" groups. Backspace ("\") is used as an escape character.
39 Typesets that mimic the behaviour of Windows and Unix shells are also
43 "new [ do => $what | type => $type ], capture => $captures"
44 Constructs a new Regexp::Wildcard object.
46 "do" lists all features that should be enabled when converting wildcards
47 to regexps. Refer to "do" for details on what can be passed in $what.
49 The "type" specifies a predefined set of "do" features to use. See
50 "type" for details on which types are valid. The "do" option overrides
53 "capture" lists which atoms should be capturing. Refer to "capture" for
56 "do [ $what | set => $c1, add => $c2, rem => $c3 ]"
57 Specifies the list of metacharacters to convert. They are classified
60 'jokers' converts "?" to "." and "*" to ".*" ;
61 'a**\\*b??\\?c' ==> 'a.*\\*b..\\?c'
63 'sql' converts "_" to "." and "%" to ".*" ;
64 'a%%\\%b__\\_c' ==> 'a.*\\%b..\\_c'
66 'commas' converts all "," to "|" and puts the complete resulting regular
67 expression inside "(?: ... )" ;
68 'a,b{c,d},e' ==> '(?:a|b\\{c|d\\}|e)'
70 'brackets' converts all matching "{ ... , ... }" brackets to "(?: ... |
71 ... )" alternations. If some brackets are unbalanced, it tries to
72 substitute as many of them as possible, and then escape the remaining
73 unmatched "{" and "}". Commas outside of any bracket-delimited block are
75 'a,b{c,d},e' ==> 'a\\,b(?:c|d)\\,e'
76 '{a\\{b,c}d,e}' ==> '(?:a\\{b|c)d\\,e\\}'
77 '{a{b,c\\}d,e}' ==> '\\{a\\{b\\,c\\}d\\,e\\}'
79 'groups' keeps the parenthesis "( ... )" of the original string without
80 escaping them. Currently, no check is done to ensure that the
81 parenthesis are matching.
82 'a(b(c))d\\(\\)' ==> (no change)
84 Each $c can be any of :
86 A hash reference, with wanted metacharacter group names (described
87 above) as keys and booleans as values ;
88 An array reference containing the list of wanted metacharacter classes ;
89 A plain scalar, when only one group is required.
91 When "set" is present, the classes given as its value replace the
92 current object options. Then the "add" classes are added, and the "rem"
95 Passing a sole scalar $what is equivalent as passing "set => $what". No
96 argument means "set => [ ]".
98 $rw->do(set => 'jokers'); # Only translate jokers.
99 $rw->do('jokers'); # Same.
100 $rw->do(add => [ qw/sql commas/ ]); # Translate also SQL and commas.
101 $rw->do(rem => 'jokers'); # Specifying both 'sql' and 'jokers' is useless.
102 $rw->do(); # Translate nothing.
105 Notifies to convert the metacharacters that corresponds to the
106 predefined type $type. $type can be any of 'jokers', 'sql', 'commas',
107 'brackets', 'win32' or 'unix'. An unknown or undefined value defaults to
108 'unix', except for 'dos', 'os2', 'MSWin32' and 'cygwin' that default to
109 'win32'. This means that you can pass $^O as the $type and get the
110 corresponding shell behaviour. Returns the object.
112 $rw->type('win32'); # Set type to win32.
113 $rw->type(); # Set type to unix.
115 "capture [ $captures | set => $c1, add => $c2, rem => $c3 ]"
116 Specifies the list of atoms to capture. This method works like "do",
117 except that the classes are different :
119 'single' will capture all unescaped *"exactly one"* metacharacters, i.e.
120 "?" for wildcards or "_" for SQL ;
121 'a???b\\??' ==> 'a(.)(.)(.)b\\?(.)'
122 'a___b\\__' ==> 'a(.)(.)(.)b\\_(.)'
124 'any' will capture all unescaped *"any"* metacharacters, i.e. "*" for
125 wildcards or "%" for SQL ;
126 'a***b\\**' ==> 'a(.*)b\\*(.*)'
127 'a%%%b\\%%' ==> 'a(.*)b\\%(.*)'
129 'greedy', when used in conjunction with 'any', will make the 'any'
130 captures greedy (by default they are not) ;
131 'a***b\\**' ==> 'a(.*?)b\\*(.*?)'
132 'a%%%b\\%%' ==> 'a(.*?)b\\%(.*?)'
134 'brackets' will capture matching "{ ... , ... }" alternations.
135 'a{b\\},\\{c}' ==> 'a(b\\}|\\{c)'
137 $rw->capture(set => 'single'); # Only capture "exactly one" metacharacters.
138 $rw->capture('single'); # Same.
139 $rw->capture(add => [ qw/any greedy/ ]); # Also greedily capture "any" metacharacters.
140 $rw->capture(rem => 'greedy'); # No more greed please.
141 $rw->capture(); # Capture nothing.
143 "convert $wc [ , $type ]"
144 Converts the wildcard expression $wc into a regular expression according
145 to the options stored into the Regexp::Wildcards object, or to $type if
146 it's supplied. It successively escapes all unprotected regexp special
147 characters that doesn't hold any meaning for wildcards, then replace
148 'jokers' or 'sql' and 'commas' or 'brackets' (depending on the "do" or
149 "type" options), all of this by applying the 'capture' rules specified
150 in the constructor or by "capture".
153 An object module shouldn't export any function, and so does this one.
156 Carp (core module since perl 5), Text::Balanced (since 5.7.3).
159 This module does not implement the strange behaviours of Windows shell
160 that result from the special handling of the three last characters (for
161 the file extension). For example, Windows XP shell matches *a like
162 ".*a", "*a?" like ".*a.?", "*a??" like ".*a.{0,2}" and so on.
165 Vincent Pit, "<perl at profvince.com>", <http://www.profvince.com>.
167 You can contact me by mail or on #perl @ FreeNode (vincent or
171 Please report any bugs or feature requests to "bug-regexp-wildcards at
172 rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at
173 <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Regexp-Wildcards>. I
174 will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress
175 on your bug as I make changes.
178 You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.
180 perldoc Regexp::Wildcards
182 Tests code coverage report is available at
183 <http://www.profvince.com/perl/cover/Regexp-Wildcards>.
186 Copyright 2007-2008 Vincent Pit, all rights reserved.
188 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
189 under the same terms as Perl itself.