All search functions use $pattern
parameter to
specify match for filenames. Format of the $pattern
depends on value of another parameter - $pattern_type
.
$pattern_type
is
'php'
, then the pattern is
case-sensitive string which follows the conventions of the
ereg_*-functions.
'perl'
pattern type it must follow the
preg_*-functions pattern format. It is recommended to use
'perl'
, because it is faster.
'shell'
mode is most simple and should
be familiar to everybody with basic computer skills. It is as easy as
windows approach, but has some additional concepts borrowed from the FAR
Manager software. The text of the following section was borrowed from
the FAR Manager documentation.
File masks are used to select single files and folders or groups of them. Masks may contain common valid file name symbols, wildcards ('*' and '?') and special expressions:
For example, files ftp.exe, fc.exe and f.ext may be selected using mask f*.ex?, mask *co* will select both color.ini and edit.com, mask [c-f,t]*.txt can select config.txt, demo.txt, faq.txt and tips.txt.
You may enter several file masks separated with commas or semicolons. For example, to select all the documents, you can specify *.doc,*.txt,*.wri in search pattern.
You may use exclude masks. An exclude mask is one or multiple file masks that must not be matched by the files matching the mask. The exclude mask is delimited from the main mask by the character '|'.
Usage examples of exclude masks:
*.cpp
All files with the extension cpp.*.*|*.bak,*.tmp
All files except for the files with extensions bak and tmp.*.*|
This mask has an error - the character | is entered, but the mask itself is not specified.*.*|*.bak|*.tmp
Also an error - the character | may not be contained in the mask more than once.|*.bak
The same as *|*.bakThe comma (or semicolon) is used for separating file masks from each other, and the '|' character separates include masks from exclude masks.
'shell' match mode is available from version 1.2.0 of File_Find