Glob

Glob is shell-style file-path pattern matching that uses wildcards such as * ** ? [] to match file names; it is simpler than regex.

Purpose

Provides simple pattern matching for file systems without the complex syntax of regex.

Mechanism

* matches any characters within a single path segment (excluding /); ** recursively matches multiple directory levels; ? matches a single character; [] matches a character class; {} matches optional groups. Expanded into file lists by the shell or libraries such as minimatch/picomatch. Widely used by .gitignore, npm, and Vite.

Use cases

.gitignore and npm ignore rules
Build-tool file include/exclude patterns
Shell commands (ls *.js)
IDE file filtering

Examples

Input

src/**/*.ts

Output

All .ts files under src (recursive)

** recursion

Common errors

Confusing * with ** (single level vs recursive): ** must be enabled via configuration (e.g., in minimatch)

Related terms

Regular Expression

A regular expression is a formal language for describing string patterns, defining matching rules with metacharacters and quantifiers; it is widely used for search, validation, and extraction.

Wildcards are simplified pattern-matching characters: * matches any sequence and ? matches a single character; commonly used for file-name and domain matching.

References