glob.zig

Allocation-free glob matching for byte strings in pure Zig.

Reference docs

• *, ?, sets ([abc]), ranges ([a-z]), and negated sets ([!abc], [^abc])
• Backslash escaping and whole-pattern negation with a leading !
• Optional pathname, leading-period, no-escape, and ASCII case-insensitive behavior
• Configurable matching reports malformed patterns
• Constant stack use, no allocation, and no dependencies
• Multiple-pattern helpers: matchAny and matchAll

Matching is byte-oriented. ? consumes one byte, not one Unicode scalar.

zig fetch --save=glob https://github.com/xcaeser/glob.zig/archive/v0.2.0.tar.gz

Add the module to your executable or library:

const glob_dep = b.dependency("glob", .{ .target = target, .optimize = optimize });
exe.root_module.addImport("glob", glob_dep.module("glob"));

const std = @import("std");
const glob = @import("glob");

pub fn main() !void {
    std.debug.assert(glob.match("src/*.zig", "src/main.zig"));
    std.debug.assert(glob.match("file[0-9].txt", "file7.txt"));
    std.debug.assert(glob.match("!*.tmp", "notes.txt"));
    std.debug.assert(glob.matchAll(&.{ "*.txt", "!test_*" }, "notes.txt"));

    const path = try glob.matchWithOptions("src/*.zig", "src/lib/main.zig", .{
        .pathname = true,
    });
    std.debug.assert(!path); // * cannot cross /

    const readme = try glob.matchWithOptions("README.*", "readme.md", .{
        .case_sensitivity = .insensitive_ascii,
    });
    std.debug.assert(readme);

    try glob.validate("[a-z]*");
}

• match(pattern, text) bool — the default. Malformed patterns return false.
• matchWithOptions(pattern, text, options) !bool — configurable matching; malformed patterns return a ValidationError.
• validate(pattern) !void — validate default pattern syntax without matching.
• matchAny(patterns, text) bool — match at least one default-syntax pattern.
• matchAll(patterns, text) bool — match every default-syntax pattern.

- is literal at either edge of a class or when escaped. Invalid patterns return false from match; matchWithOptions reports UnclosedBracket, EmptyBracket, InvalidRange, or TrailingBackslash.

matchWithOptions accepts:

• case_sensitivity = .insensitive_ascii — fold ASCII letter case
• pathname = true — wildcards and classes cannot match /
• period = true — a leading . must be matched by a literal .; with pathname, this also applies after /
• no_escape = true — treat \ as an ordinary byte

matchAny treats every pattern independently, including negated patterns. Use matchAll(&.{ "*.txt", "!test_*" }, text) for an include-and-exclude filter. The list helpers intentionally use default options; for custom options, loop over the patterns and call matchWithOptions explicitly.

zig fmt --check .
zig build test --summary all
zig build docs

MIT licensed. See LICENSE and CONTRIBUTING.md.