CURLOPT\_WILDCARDMATCH(3) Library Functions Manual CURLOPT\_WILDCARDMATCH(3)

# [NAME](#NAME)

CURLOPT\_WILDCARDMATCH - directory wildcard transfers

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

```
#include <curl/curl.h>
CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_WILDCARDMATCH, long onoff);
```

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Set *onoff* to 1 if you want to transfer multiple files according to a filename pattern. The pattern can be specified as part of the [*CURLOPT\_URL(3)*](/man/os/curl/CURLOPT_URL.3) option, using an **fnmatch**-like pattern (Shell Pattern Matching) in the last part of URL (filename).

By default, libcurl uses its internal wildcard matching implementation. You can provide your own matching function by the [*CURLOPT\_FNMATCH\_FUNCTION(3)*](/man/os/curl/CURLOPT_FNMATCH_FUNCTION.3) option.

A brief introduction of its syntax follows:

\* - ASTERISK

```
ftp://example.com/some/path/*.txt
```

matches all *.txt* files in the root directory. Only two asterisks are allowed within the same pattern string.

? - QUESTION MARK

Question mark matches any (exactly one) character.

```
ftp://example.com/some/path/photo?.jpg
```

[ - BRACKET EXPRESSION

The left bracket opens a bracket expression. The question mark and asterisk have no special meaning in a bracket expression. Each bracket expression ends by the right bracket and matches exactly one character. Some examples follow:

**\[a-zA-Z0-9]** or **\[f-gF-G]** - character interval

**\[abc]** - character enumeration

**\[^abc]** or **\[!abc]** - negation

**\[\[:name:]]** class expression. Supported classes are **alnum**,**lower**, **space**, **alpha**, **digit**, **print**, **upper**, **blank**, **graph**, **xdigit**.

**\[]\[-!^]** - special case - matches only '-', ']', '[', '!' or '^'. These characters have no special purpose.

**\[\[]]** - escape syntax. Matches '\[', ']' or 'e'.

Using the rules above, a filename pattern can be constructed:

```
ftp://example.com/some/path/[a-z[:upper:]\\].jpg
```

# [PROTOCOLS](#PROTOCOLS)

This functionality affects ftp only

# [EXAMPLE](#EXAMPLE)

```
extern long begin_cb(struct curl_fileinfo *, void *, int);
extern long end_cb(void *ptr);
int main(void)
{


  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();


  if(curl) {


    /* turn on wildcard matching */


    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_WILDCARDMATCH, 1L);


    /* callback is called before download of concrete file started */


    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_CHUNK_BGN_FUNCTION, begin_cb);


    /* callback is called after data from the file have been transferred */


    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_CHUNK_END_FUNCTION, end_cb);


    /* See more on https://curl.se/libcurl/c/ftp-wildcard.html */


  }
}
```

# [AVAILABILITY](#AVAILABILITY)

Added in curl 7.21.0

# [RETURN VALUE](#RETURN_VALUE)

[*curl\_easy\_setopt(3)*](/man/os/curl/curl_easy_setopt.3) returns a CURLcode indicating success or error.

CURLE\_OK (0) means everything was OK, non-zero means an error occurred, see [*libcurl-errors(3)*](/man/os/curl/libcurl-errors.3).

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**CURLOPT\_CHUNK\_BGN\_FUNCTION**(3)](/man/os/curl/CURLOPT_CHUNK_BGN_FUNCTION.3), [**CURLOPT\_CHUNK\_END\_FUNCTION**(3)](/man/os/curl/CURLOPT_CHUNK_END_FUNCTION.3), [**CURLOPT\_FNMATCH\_FUNCTION**(3)](/man/os/curl/CURLOPT_FNMATCH_FUNCTION.3), [**CURLOPT\_URL**(3)](/man/os/curl/CURLOPT_URL.3)

2026-10-14 libcurl

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Document: CURLOPT_WILDCARDMATCH(3) from curl 8.23.0-r0 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/curl/curl.git