1glob(n) Tcl Built-In Commands glob(n)
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8 glob - Return names of files that match patterns
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11 glob ?switches? pattern ?pattern ...?
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16 This command performs file name ``globbing'' in a fashion similar to
17 the csh shell. It returns a list of the files whose names match any of
18 the pattern arguments.
19 If the initial arguments to glob start with - then they are treated as
21 switches. The following switches are currently supported: │
22 -directory directory │
24 Search for files which match the given patterns starting in the │
25 given directory. This allows searching of directories whose │
26 name contains glob-sensitive characters without the need to │
27 quote such characters explicitly. This option may not be used │
28 in conjunction with -path, which is used to allow searching for │
29 complete file paths whose names may contain glob-sensitive char‐ │
30 acters. │
31 -join │
33 The remaining pattern arguments are treated as a single pattern │
34 obtained by joining the arguments with directory separators.
35 -nocomplain
37 Allows an empty list to be returned without error; without this
38 switch an error is returned if the result list would be empty. │
39 -path pathPrefix │
41 Search for files with the given pathPrefix where the rest of the │
42 name matches the given patterns. This allows searching for │
43 files with names similar to a given file (as opposed to a direc‐ │
44 tory) even when the names contain glob-sensitive characters. │
45 This option may not be used in conjunction with -directory. For │
46 example, to find all files with the same root name as $path, but │
47 differing extensions, you should use glob -path [file rootname │
48 $path] .* which will work even if $path contains numerous glob- │
49 sensitive characters. │
50 -tails │
52 Only return the part of each file found which follows the last │
53 directory named in any -directory or -path path specification. │
54 Thus glob -tails -directory $dir * is equivalent to set pwd │
55 [pwd] ; cd $dir ; glob *; cd $pwd. For -path specifications, │
56 the returned names will include the last path segment, so glob │
57 -tails -path [file rootname ~/foo.tex] .* will return paths │
58 like foo.aux foo.bib foo.tex etc. │
59 -types typeList │
61 Only list files or directories which match typeList, where the │
62 items in the list have two forms. The first form is like the │
63 -type option of the Unix find command: b (block special file), c │
64 (character special file), d (directory), f (plain file), l (sym‐ │
65 bolic link), p (named pipe), or s (socket), where multiple types │
66 may be specified in the list. Glob will return all files which │
67 match at least one of the types given. Note that symbolic links │
68 will be returned both if -types l is given, or if the target of │
69 a link matches the requested type. So, a link to a directory │
70 will be returned if -types d was specified. │
71 The second form specifies types where all the types given must │
73 match. These are r, w, x as file permissions, and readonly, │
74 hidden as special permission cases. On the Macintosh, MacOS │
75 types and creators are also supported, where any item which is │
76 four characters long is assumed to be a MacOS type (e.g. TEXT). │
77 Items which are of the form {macintosh type XXXX} or {macintosh │
78 creator XXXX} will match types or creators respectively. Unrec‐ │
79 ognized types, or specifications of multiple MacOS types/cre‐ │
80 ators will signal an error. │
81 The two forms may be mixed, so -types {d f r w} will find all │
83 regular files OR directories that have both read AND write per‐ │
84 missions. The following are equivalent: │
85 glob -type d * │
86 glob */ │
87 except that the first case doesn't return the trailing ``/'' and │
88 is more platform independent. │
89 -- Marks the end of switches. The argument following this one will
91 be treated as a pattern even if it starts with a -.
92 The pattern arguments may contain any of the following special charac‐
94 ters:
95 ? Matches any single character.
97 * Matches any sequence of zero or more characters.
99 [chars] Matches any single character in chars. If chars contains a
101 sequence of the form a-b then any character between a and b
102 (inclusive) will match.
103 \x Matches the character x.
105 {a,b,...} Matches any of the strings a, b, etc.
107 On Unix, as with csh, a ``.'' at the beginning of a file's name or just
109 after a ``/'' must be matched explicitly or with a {} construct, unless
110 the ``-types hidden'' flag is given (since ``.'' at the beginning of a
111 file's name indicates that it is hidden). On other platforms, files
112 beginning with a ``.'' are handled no differently to any others, except
113 the special directories ``.'' and ``..'' which must be matched explic‐
114 itly (this is to avoid a recursive pattern like ``glob -join * * * *''
115 from recursing up the directory hierarchy as well as down). In addi‐
116 tion, all ``/'' characters must be matched explicitly.
117 If the first character in a pattern is ``~'' then it refers to the home
119 directory for the user whose name follows the ``~''. If the ``~'' is
120 followed immediately by ``/'' then the value of the HOME environment
121 variable is used.
122 The glob command differs from csh globbing in two ways. First, it does
124 not sort its result list (use the lsort command if you want the list
125 sorted). Second, glob only returns the names of files that actually
126 exist; in csh no check for existence is made unless a pattern contains
127 a ?, *, or [] construct.
128 When the glob command returns relative paths whose filenames start with
130 a tilde ``~'' (for example through glob * or glob -tails, the returned
131 list will not quote the tilde with ``./''. This means care must be
132 taken if those names are later to be used with file join, to avoid them
133 being interpreted as absolute paths pointing to a given user's home
134 directory.
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137 Unlike other Tcl commands that will accept both network and native
138 style names (see the filename manual entry for details on how native
139 and network names are specified), the glob command only accepts native
140 names.
141 Windows
143 For Windows UNC names, the servername and sharename components
144 of the path may not contain ?, *, or [] constructs. On Windows
145 NT, if pattern is of the form ``~username@domain'' it refers to
146 the home directory of the user whose account information resides
147 on the specified NT domain server. Otherwise, user account
148 information is obtained from the local computer. On Windows 95
149 and 98, glob accepts patterns like ``.../'' and ``..../'' for
150 successively higher up parent directories.
151 Since the backslash character has a special meaning to the glob
153 command, glob patterns containing Windows style path separators
154 need special care. The pattern C:\\foo\\* is interpreted as
155 C:\foo\* where \f will match the single character f and \* will
156 match the single character * and will not be interpreted as a
157 wildcard character. One solution to this problem is to use the
158 Unix style forward slash as a path separator. Windows style
159 paths can be converted to Unix style paths with the command file
160 join $path (or file normalize $path in Tcl 8.4).
161 Macintosh
163 When using the options, -directory, -join or -path, glob assumes
164 the directory separator for the entire pattern is the standard
165 ``:''. When not using these options, glob examines each pattern
166 argument and uses ``/'' unless the pattern contains a ``:''.
167
169 Find all the Tcl files in the current directory:
170 glob *.tcl
171 Find all the Tcl files in the user's home directory, irrespective of
173 what the current directory is:
174 glob -directory ~ *.tcl
175 Find all subdirectories of the current directory:
177 glob -type d *
178 Find all files whose name contains an "a", a "b" or the sequence "cde":
180 glob -type f *{a,b,cde}*
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184 file(n)
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188 exist, file, glob, pattern
189Tcl 8.3 glob(n)