PHP - fnmatch() Function

September 20, 2024

Categories: PHP Functions, PHP Reference, Reference

Quick Reference

The PHP fnmatch() function checks if a string or filename matches the given shell wildcard pattern.

<?php
$text = 'My car is red';
if (fnmatch("*col[ou]r", $text)) {
    echo "Well, I'll be a chicken.";
}
?>

Output

// checks a color name against a shell wildcard pattern

Syntax

fnmatch(pattern, string, flags)

Parameters

Parameter	Description
pattern	Specifies the shell wildcard pattern (required)
string	Specifies the string or file to check
flags	Can be one or a combination of the following: 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 pattern FNM_CASEFOLD - Caseless match. Part of the GNU extension

PHP Notes:

When using PHP, single or double quotation marks are acceptable and work identically to one another; choose whichever you prefer, and stay consistent
Arrays count starting from zero NOT one; so item 1 is position [0], item 2 is position [1], and item 3 is position [2] … and so on

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