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 ".*" ;
62 'a**\\*b??\\?c' ==> 'a.*\\*b..\\?c'
64 * 'sql' converts "_" to "." and "%" to ".*" ;
66 'a%%\\%b__\\_c' ==> 'a.*\\%b..\\_c'
68 * 'commas' converts all "," to "|" and puts the complete resulting
69 regular expression inside "(?: ... )" ;
71 'a,b{c,d},e' ==> '(?:a|b\\{c|d\\}|e)'
73 * 'brackets' converts all matching "{ ... , ... }" brackets to "(?:
74 ... | ... )" alternations. If some brackets are unbalanced, it tries
75 to substitute as many of them as possible, and then escape the
76 remaining unmatched "{" and "}". Commas outside of any
77 bracket-delimited block are also escaped ;
79 'a,b{c,d},e' ==> 'a\\,b(?:c|d)\\,e'
80 '{a\\{b,c}d,e}' ==> '(?:a\\{b|c)d\\,e\\}'
81 '{a{b,c\\}d,e}' ==> '\\{a\\{b\\,c\\}d\\,e\\}'
83 * 'groups' keeps the parenthesis "( ... )" of the original string
84 without escaping them. Currently, no check is done to ensure that
85 the parenthesis are matching.
87 'a(b(c))d\\(\\)' ==> (no change)
89 Each $c can be any of :
91 * A hash reference, with wanted metacharacter group names (described
92 above) as keys and booleans as values ;
94 * An array reference containing the list of wanted metacharacter
97 * A plain scalar, when only one group is required.
99 When "set" is present, the classes given as its value replace the
100 current object options. Then the "add" classes are added, and the "rem"
103 Passing a sole scalar $what is equivalent as passing "set => $what". No
104 argument means "set => [ ]".
106 $rw->do(set => 'jokers'); # Only translate jokers.
107 $rw->do('jokers'); # Same.
108 $rw->do(add => [ qw/sql commas/ ]); # Translate also SQL and commas.
109 $rw->do(rem => 'jokers'); # Specifying both 'sql' and 'jokers' is useless.
110 $rw->do(); # Translate nothing.
113 Notifies to convert the metacharacters that corresponds to the
114 predefined type $type. $type can be any of 'jokers', 'sql', 'commas',
115 'brackets', 'win32' or 'unix'. An unknown or undefined value defaults to
116 'unix', except for 'dos', 'os2', 'MSWin32' and 'cygwin' that default to
117 'win32'. This means that you can pass $^O as the $type and get the
118 corresponding shell behaviour. Returns the object.
120 $rw->type('win32'); # Set type to win32.
121 $rw->type(); # Set type to unix.
123 "capture [ $captures | set => $c1, add => $c2, rem => $c3 ]"
124 Specifies the list of atoms to capture. This method works like "do",
125 except that the classes are different :
127 * 'single' will capture all unescaped *"exactly one"* metacharacters,
128 i.e. "?" for wildcards or "_" for SQL ;
130 'a???b\\??' ==> 'a(.)(.)(.)b\\?(.)'
131 'a___b\\__' ==> 'a(.)(.)(.)b\\_(.)'
133 * 'any' will capture all unescaped *"any"* metacharacters, i.e. "*"
134 for wildcards or "%" for SQL ;
136 'a***b\\**' ==> 'a(.*)b\\*(.*)'
137 'a%%%b\\%%' ==> 'a(.*)b\\%(.*)'
139 * 'greedy', when used in conjunction with 'any', will make the 'any'
140 captures greedy (by default they are not) ;
142 'a***b\\**' ==> 'a(.*?)b\\*(.*?)'
143 'a%%%b\\%%' ==> 'a(.*?)b\\%(.*?)'
145 * 'brackets' will capture matching "{ ... , ... }" alternations.
147 'a{b\\},\\{c}' ==> 'a(b\\}|\\{c)'
149 $rw->capture(set => 'single'); # Only capture "exactly one" metacharacters.
150 $rw->capture('single'); # Same.
151 $rw->capture(add => [ qw/any greedy/ ]); # Also greedily capture "any" metacharacters.
152 $rw->capture(rem => 'greedy'); # No more greed please.
153 $rw->capture(); # Capture nothing.
155 "convert $wc [ , $type ]"
156 Converts the wildcard expression $wc into a regular expression according
157 to the options stored into the Regexp::Wildcards object, or to $type if
158 it's supplied. It successively escapes all unprotected regexp special
159 characters that doesn't hold any meaning for wildcards, then replace
160 'jokers' or 'sql' and 'commas' or 'brackets' (depending on the "do" or
161 "type" options), all of this by applying the 'capture' rules specified
162 in the constructor or by "capture".
165 An object module shouldn't export any function, and so does this one.
168 Carp (core module since perl 5), Text::Balanced (since 5.7.3).
171 This module does not implement the strange behaviours of Windows shell
172 that result from the special handling of the three last characters (for
173 the file extension). For example, Windows XP shell matches *a like
174 ".*a", "*a?" like ".*a.?", "*a??" like ".*a.{0,2}" and so on.
177 Vincent Pit, "<perl at profvince.com>", <http://www.profvince.com>.
179 You can contact me by mail or on #perl @ FreeNode (vincent or
183 Please report any bugs or feature requests to "bug-regexp-wildcards at
184 rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at
185 <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Regexp-Wildcards>. I
186 will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress
187 on your bug as I make changes.
190 You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.
192 perldoc Regexp::Wildcards
194 Tests code coverage report is available at
195 <http://www.profvince.com/perl/cover/Regexp-Wildcards>.
198 Copyright 2007-2008 Vincent Pit, all rights reserved.
200 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
201 under the same terms as Perl itself.