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I am using Python 3.7.6 and the fnmatch.fnmatch function to match a filename with a given pattern. Most of my tests worked, but in specific the following example doesn't return the value as expected. Give is the following exanoke:

> fnmatch.fnmatch('_foo\bar.exe', '^_*')
False

What I try to do, to match any filename whose component starts with _. Any help is highly appreciated

HelloWorld
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  • What leads you to think that `^` matches leading characters in a *glob* expression, as opposed to a regex? – Charles Duffy Feb 20 '20 at 18:59
  • See the POSIX `fnmatch` spec at https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/fnmatch.html, and the glob syntax it includes by reference at https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/V3_chap02.html#tag_18_13_02 -- `^` is not mentioned anywhere, outside the context of brace sequences. – Charles Duffy Feb 20 '20 at 19:00
  • Great, I wrote so much regex these days, that I didn't even think that this is not part of the specs! I would accept this as an answer. Thanks! – HelloWorld Feb 20 '20 at 19:01

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This is not a place where Python fails to comply with the POSIX specification. UNIX pattern matching syntax does not require ^ to have any special meaning, except in a square-bracket character-set description.

See:

This makes sense: Globs are implicitly anchored -- they always match only at the beginning, so there's no reason to support an explicit anchor.

Charles Duffy
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