/Doc/library/glob.rst

 1
 2:mod:`glob` --- Unix style pathname pattern expansion
 3=====================================================
 4
 5.. module:: glob
 6   :synopsis: Unix shell style pathname pattern expansion.
 7
 8
 9.. index:: single: filenames; pathname expansion
10
11The :mod:`glob` module finds all the pathnames matching a specified pattern
12according to the rules used by the Unix shell.  No tilde expansion is done, but
13``*``, ``?``, and character ranges expressed with ``[]`` will be correctly
14matched.  This is done by using the :func:`os.listdir` and
15:func:`fnmatch.fnmatch` functions in concert, and not by actually invoking a
16subshell.  (For tilde and shell variable expansion, use
17:func:`os.path.expanduser` and :func:`os.path.expandvars`.)
18
19
20.. function:: glob(pathname)
21
22   Return a possibly-empty list of path names that match *pathname*, which must be
23   a string containing a path specification. *pathname* can be either absolute
24   (like :file:`/usr/src/Python-1.5/Makefile`) or relative (like
25   :file:`../../Tools/\*/\*.gif`), and can contain shell-style wildcards. Broken
26   symlinks are included in the results (as in the shell).
27
28
29.. function:: iglob(pathname)
30
31   Return an :term:`iterator` which yields the same values as :func:`glob`
32   without actually storing them all simultaneously.
33
34   .. versionadded:: 2.5
35
36For example, consider a directory containing only the following files:
37:file:`1.gif`, :file:`2.txt`, and :file:`card.gif`.  :func:`glob` will produce
38the following results.  Notice how any leading components of the path are
39preserved. ::
40
41   >>> import glob
42   >>> glob.glob('./[0-9].*')
43   ['./1.gif', './2.txt']
44   >>> glob.glob('*.gif')
45   ['1.gif', 'card.gif']
46   >>> glob.glob('?.gif')
47   ['1.gif']
48
49
50.. seealso::
51
52   Module :mod:`fnmatch`
53      Shell-style filename (not path) expansion
54