glob(n) Tcl Built-In Commands glob(n) ``` ``` # [NAME](#NAME) glob - Return names of files that match patterns # [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS) **glob** ?*switches*? ?*pattern ...*? ``` ``` # [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION) This command performs file name “globbing” in a fashion similar to the csh shell or bash shell. It returns a list of the files whose names match any of the *pattern* arguments. No particular order is guaranteed in the list, so if a sorted list is required the caller should use **lsort**. ## [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS) If the initial arguments to **glob** start with **-** then they are treated as switches. The following switches are currently supported: [**-directory directory**](#directory) Search for files which match the given patterns starting in the given *directory*. This allows searching of directories whose name contains glob-sensitive characters without the need to quote such characters explicitly. This option may not be used in conjunction with **-path**, which is used to allow searching for complete file paths whose names may contain glob-sensitive characters. [**-join**](#join) The remaining pattern arguments, after option processing, are treated as a single pattern obtained by joining the arguments with directory separators. [**-nocomplain**](#nocomplain) Allows an empty list to be returned without error; This is the default behavior in Tcl 9.0, so this switch has no effect any more. [**-path pathPrefix**](#path) Search for files with the given *pathPrefix* where the rest of the name matches the given patterns. This allows searching for files with names similar to a given file (as opposed to a directory) even when the names contain glob-sensitive characters. This option may not be used in conjunction with **-directory**. For example, to find all files with the same root name as $path, but differing extensions, you should use “**glob -path \[file rootname $path] .\***” which will work even if **$path** contains numerous glob-sensitive characters. [**-tails**](#tails) Only return the part of each file found which follows the last directory named in any **-directory** or **-path** path specification. Thus “**glob -tails -directory $dir \***” is equivalent to “**set pwd \[pwd]; cd $dir; glob \*; cd $pwd**”. For **-path** specifications, the returned names will include the last path segment, so “**glob -tails -path \[file rootname /home/fred/foo.tex] .\***” will return paths like **foo.aux foo.bib foo.tex** etc. [**-types typeList**](#types) Only list files or directories which match *typeList*, where the items in the list have two forms. The first form is like the -type option of the Unix find command: *b* (block special file), *c* (character special file), *d* (directory), *f* (plain file), *l* (symbolic link), *p* (named pipe), or *s* (socket), where multiple types may be specified in the list. **glob** will return all files which match at least one of the types given. Note that symbolic links will be returned both if **-types l** is given, or if the target of a link matches the requested type. So, a link to a directory will be returned if **-types d** was specified. The second form specifies types where all the types given must match. These are *r*, *w*, *x* as file permissions, and *readonly*, *hidden* as special permission cases. On the Macintosh, macOS types and creators are also supported, where any item which is four characters long is assumed to be a macOS type (e.g. **TEXT**). Items which are of the form *{macintosh type XXXX}* or *{macintosh creator XXXX}* will match types or creators respectively. Unrecognized types, or specifications of multiple macOS types/creators will signal an error. The two forms may be mixed, so **-types {d f r w}** will find all regular files OR directories that have both read AND write permissions. The following are equivalent: ``` glob -type d * glob */ ``` except that the first case doesn't return the trailing “/” and is more platform independent. **--** Marks the end of switches. The argument following this one will be treated as a *pattern* even if it starts with a **-**. ## [GLOBBING PATTERNS](#GLOBBING_PATTERNS) The *pattern* arguments may contain any of the following special characters, which are a superset of those supported by **string match**: **?** Matches any single character. **\*** Matches any sequence of zero or more characters. **\[chars]** Matches any single character in *chars*. If *chars* contains a sequence of the form *a-b* then any character between *a* and *b* (inclusive) will match. [**\\x**](#x) Matches the character *x*. **{a,b,...}** Matches any of the sub-patterns *a*, *b*, etc. On Unix, as with csh, a “.” at the beginning of a file's name or just after a “/” must be matched explicitly or with a {} construct, unless the **-types hidden** flag is given (since “.” at the beginning of a file's name indicates that it is hidden). On other platforms, files beginning with a “.” are handled no differently to any others, except the special directories “.” and “..” which must be matched explicitly (this is to avoid a recursive pattern like “glob -join * * * \*” from recursing up the directory hierarchy as well as down). In addition, all “/” characters must be matched explicitly. The **glob** command differs from csh globbing in two ways. First, it does not sort its result list (use the **lsort** command if you want the list sorted). Second, **glob** only returns the names of files that actually exist; in csh no check for existence is made unless a pattern contains a ?, \*, or \[] construct. # [WINDOWS PORTABILITY ISSUES](#WINDOWS_PORTABILITY_ISSUES) For Windows UNC names, the servername and sharename components of the path may not contain ?, \*, or \[] constructs. Since the backslash character has a special meaning to the glob command, glob patterns containing Windows style path separators need special care. The pattern “*C:\\\\foo\\\\\**” is interpreted as “*C:\\foo\\\**” where “*\\f*” will match the single character “*f*” and “*\\\**” will match the single character “*\**” and will not be interpreted as a wildcard character. One solution to this problem is to use the Unix style forward slash as a path separator. Windows style paths can be converted to Unix style paths with the command “**file join** **$path**” or “**file normalize** **$path**”. # [EXAMPLES](#EXAMPLES) Find all the Tcl files in the current directory: ``` glob *.tcl ``` Find all the Tcl files in the user's home directory, irrespective of what the current directory is: ``` glob -directory [file home] *.tcl ``` Find all subdirectories of the current directory: ``` glob -type d * ``` Find all files whose name contains an “a”, a “b” or the sequence “cde”: ``` glob -type f *{a,b,cde}* ``` # [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO) [file(n)](/man/os/tcl/file.n) # [KEYWORDS](#KEYWORDS) exist, file, glob, pattern 8.3 Tcl --- Document: glob(n) from tcl 9.1.0-r0 (Chainguard OS) Source: https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/tcl/Tcl/9.1.0/tcl9.1.0-src.tar.gz