summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Doc/lib/libglob.tex
blob: 0d0d712b84d24f45a3dfd8b6fe5c86aeba9cf544 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
\section{\module{glob} ---
         \UNIX{} style pathname pattern expansion}

\declaremodule{standard}{glob}
\modulesynopsis{\UNIX\ shell style pathname pattern expansion.}


The \module{glob} module finds all the pathnames matching a specified
pattern according to the rules used by the \UNIX{} shell.  No tilde
expansion is done, but \code{*}, \code{?}, and character ranges
expressed with \code{[]} will be correctly matched.  This is done by
using the \function{os.listdir()} and \function{fnmatch.fnmatch()}
functions in concert, and not by actually invoking a subshell.  (For
tilde and shell variable expansion, use \function{os.path.expanduser()}
and \function{os.path.expandvars()}.)
\index{filenames!pathname expansion}

\begin{funcdesc}{glob}{pathname}
Returns a possibly-empty list of path names that match \var{pathname},
which must be a string containing a path specification.
\var{pathname} can be either absolute (like
\file{/usr/src/Python-1.5/Makefile}) or relative (like
\file{../../Tools/*/*.gif}), and can contain shell-style wildcards.
Broken symlinks are included in the results (as in the shell).
\end{funcdesc}

For example, consider a directory containing only the following files:
\file{1.gif}, \file{2.txt}, and \file{card.gif}.  \function{glob()}
will produce the following results.  Notice how any leading components
of the path are preserved.

\begin{verbatim}
>>> import glob
>>> glob.glob('./[0-9].*')
['./1.gif', './2.txt']
>>> glob.glob('*.gif')
['1.gif', 'card.gif']
>>> glob.glob('?.gif')
['1.gif']
\end{verbatim}


\begin{seealso}
  \seemodule{fnmatch}{Shell-style filename (not path) expansion}
\end{seealso}