*glob* *globbing* *pathname-expansion* *filename-expansion*

#PATHNAME EXPANSION#

After word splitting, the shell scans each word for the characters `*`,
`?`, and `[`. If any appear (and are not quoted), the word is treated as a
pattern and replaced with an alphabetically sorted list of matching file
names. If no files match, the pattern is left unchanged.

==============================================================================
1. Wildcards                                   *glob-wildcards*

  `*`                                          *glob-star*

      Matches any string of zero or more characters, except that it does
      not match a leading `.` (see |glob-dotglob|) or a `/`.

      Example:
        `echo *.txt`             # all .txt files
        `ls src/*.rs`            # all .rs files in src/

  `?`                                          *glob-question*

      Matches exactly one character, with the same restrictions as `*`.

      Example:
        `ls file?.txt`           # file1.txt, fileA.txt, etc.

  `[...]`                                      *glob-bracket*

      Matches any one of the enclosed characters. A range can be specified
      with a hyphen.

      `[abc]`      matches `a`, `b`, or `c`
      `[a-z]`      matches any lowercase letter
      `[0-9]`      matches any digit
      `[A-Za-z]`   matches any letter

  `[!...]` `[^...]`                            *glob-bracket-negate*

      Matches any character NOT in the set.

      Example:
        `ls [!.]*.txt`           # .txt files not starting with dot
        `echo file[^0-9].txt`    # files without a digit

==============================================================================
2. Hidden Files                                *glob-dotglob*

  By default, patterns do not match files whose names begin with `.`
  (hidden files). A leading dot must be matched explicitly:

      `echo .*`                  # only hidden files
      `echo .* *`               # hidden and non-hidden files

  The `dotglob` shell option changes this behavior:

      `shopt core.dotglob true`

  When enabled, `*` and `?` will also match files starting with `.`.

==============================================================================
3. Brace Expansion                             *brace* *brace-expansion*

  Brace expansion is performed before globbing and generates multiple
  words from a single pattern. It is not a POSIX feature.

  `{a,b,c}`                                   *brace-list*

      Comma-separated list. Each item becomes a separate word.

      Example:
        `echo {a,b,c}`           # prints: a b c
        `echo file.{txt,log}`    # prints: file.txt file.log
        `mkdir -p src/{bin,lib}`

  `{N..M}`                                    *brace-range*

      Numeric or character range.

      Example:
        `echo {1..5}`            # prints: 1 2 3 4 5
        `echo {a..f}`            # prints: a b c d e f
        `echo {5..1}`            # prints: 5 4 3 2 1

  `{N..M..S}`                                 *brace-range-step*

      Numeric range with step {S}.

      Example:
        `echo {0..10..2}`        # prints: 0 2 4 6 8 10
        `echo {1..20..5}`        # prints: 1 6 11 16

  `{01..10}`                                  *brace-range-pad*

      Zero-padded ranges. If either endpoint has leading zeros, all
      generated values are padded to the same width.

      Example:
        `echo {01..05}`          # prints: 01 02 03 04 05
        `echo {001..3}`          # prints: 001 002 003

  Brace expansion can be nested and combined with other expansions:

      `echo {a,b{1..3},c}`      # prints: a b1 b2 b3 c

==============================================================================
4. Quoting and Escaping                        *glob-quoting*

  Glob characters lose their special meaning when quoted:

      `echo "*"`                 # prints literal *
      `echo '*.txt'`            # prints literal *.txt
      `echo \*`                 # prints literal *

  This is important when passing patterns to commands like `find` or
  `grep` where you want the command (not the shell) to interpret the
  pattern.

==============================================================================
5. Tilde Expansion                             *tilde* *tilde-expansion*

  Tilde expansion is performed before pathname expansion.

  `~`                                          *tilde-home*

      Expands to the value of `$HOME`.

  `~/path`                                     *tilde-home-path*

      Expands `~` to `$HOME`, then appends the path.

      Example:
        `cd ~/projects`
        `ls ~/.config`

  `~user`                                      *tilde-user*

      Expands to the home directory of {user}.

      Example:
        `ls ~root`               # /root
        `cat ~nobody/.profile`

  `~uid`                                       *tilde-uid*

      Expands to the home directory of the user with numeric uid {uid}.
      This is a shed-specific extension.

      Example:
        `echo ~0`                # /root (uid 0)
        `echo ~1000`             # first normal user's home

==============================================================================
See also: |param| |redirect| |arith|