Globbing¶
Globbing is the procedure of
- matching all filenames against a given pattern
- expanding to all matching filenames
Unlike MSDOS, where the called program had to interpret the patterns, the globbing on UNIX® is done by the shell, the matched filenames are given as parameters to a called command:
$ cat *.txt
really executes
$ cat 1.txt 3.txt foobar.txt XXX.txt
The term \"glob\" originates back in the UNIX® days where an executable glob (from \"global\") existed which was used to expand pattern-matching characters. Later, this functionality was built into the shell. There's still a library function called glob() (POSIX®), which serves the same purpose.