Examples

         *.java  matches  .java, x.java and FooBar.java, but not FooBar.xml (does not end with .java).

         ?.java  matches  x.java, A.java, but not .java or xyz.java (both don't have one character before .java).

Combinations of *'s and ?'s are allowed.

Matching is done per-directory. This means that first the first directory in the pattern is matched against the first directory in the path to match. Then the second directory is matched, and so on. For example, when we have the pattern /?abc/*/*.java and the path /xabc/foobar/test.java, the first ?abc is matched with xabc, then * is matched with foobar, and finally *.java is matched with test.java. They all match, so the path matches the pattern.

To make things a bit more flexible, we add one extra feature, which makes it possible to match multiple directory levels. This can be used to match a complete directory tree, or a file anywhere in the directory tree. To do this, ** must be used as the name of a directory. When ** is used as the name of a directory in the pattern, it matches zero or more directories. For example: /test/** matches all files/directories under /test/, such as /test/x.java, or /test/foo/bar/xyz.html, but not /xyz.xml.

There is one "shorthand": if a pattern ends with / or \, then ** is appended. For example, mypackage/test/ is interpreted as if it were mypackage/test/**.

Example Patterns

• **/CVS/* Matches all files in CVS directories that can be located anywhere in the directory tree.

  Matches:
  
        CVS/Repository
        org/apache/CVS/Entries
        org/apache/jakarta/tools/ant/CVS/Entries
        
  But not:
  
        org/apache/CVS/foo/bar/Entries (foo/bar/
        part does not match)

• org/apache/**/CVS/* Matches all files in CVS directories that are located anywhere in the directory tree under org/apache.

  Matches: 
  
        org/apache/CVS/Entries
        org/apache/jakarta/tools/ant/CVS/Entries
        
  But not:
  
        org/apache/CVS/foo/bar/Entries
        
  (foo/bar/ part does not match)

• **/test/** Matches all files that have a test element in their path, including test as a filename.