This article will walk you through some of the main wildcards available in Bash:
Match any string with *
The * wildcard will match any number of characters including no characters.
| Expression | Result |
|---|---|
ls *.jpg |
lists all files ending with .jpg |
ls pic* |
lists all files starting with pic |
ls *abc* |
lists all files containing abc (including starting with and ending with abc) |
Match a single character with ?
The ? wildcard will match a single character. That single character can be anything but can not be empty.
| Expression | Result |
|---|---|
ls pic?.jpg |
lists all files like pic1.jpg, picA.jpg or picz.jpg. It will not match pic.jpg |
Match a set of characters with [xyz]
Use [ ] to have one single character match a defined set of characters.
[123abc] means will match 1, 2, 3, a, b or c.
| Expression | Result |
|---|---|
pic[123].jpg |
Will only match pic1.jpg, pic2.jpg and pic3.jpg |
Match a range of characters with [a-z]
Use [-] to have one character be within certain range.
| Expression | Result |
|---|---|
[a-e] |
Will match a, b, c, d or e |
[a-z] |
Will match any lowercase letter |
[0-9] |
Will match any digit |
[A-Za-z] |
Will match any letter |
[a-e1-5] |
Will match any lowercase letter between a and e or any digit between 1 and 5 |
[a-e123] |
Will match any lowercase letter between a and e or any digit equal to 1, 2 or 3 |
[0-10] |
Will match 0 or 1 (0 to 1 range or 0) |
Invert a selection with ^
Use ^ to invert a selection
| Expression | Result |
|---|---|
[^78] |
Will match any character (including letters) different than 7 and 8 |
[^a-z] |
Will match any character that is not a lowercase letter |
Match several expressions with {abc,xyz}
Use {expr1,expr2} to match expr1 and expr2
| Expression | Result |
|---|---|
ls {*.jpg,*.gif} |
Will list any file with the jpg or gif extension |
