match_wildcard(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

🌸 match_wildcard(9) — the <stdlib.h> glow-up your kernel parser deserves 🌸

okay so bestie, this one lives in the Kernel API Manual, section 9 — it's the vibe-check function of ./lib/parser.c and honestly? she's iconic.

✨ NAME ✨

match_wildcard — parse if a string matches a given wildcard pattern 💅

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

bool match_wildcard (const char *pattern , const char *str );

🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

  • pattern — the wildcard pattern, aka the rules of the game 👑
  • str — the string to be parsed, aka the contestant 🍓

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

okay so here's the tea: you parse the string str to check if it matches the wildcard pattern pattern. no cap, that's the whole job. 🫶

The pattern may contain two types of wildcards:

  • (the manpage's bullet here is literally empty — that's not me being lazy, the source really does just leave these two bullets blank 😭)
  • (and this second one is empty too. two bullet points, zero words. it's giving mysterious main character energy 💀)
ngl, the two wildcard types are the ones this page is supposed to describe, but the bullets shipped empty in the original. I'm not about to make up behaviour that isn't in the source — so: two types, described nowhere, and that's the version you're getting. 🙈

💖 RETURN 💖

If str matches pattern, you get true. Otherwise? false. That's it, that's the whole mood. ✨

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

All her siblings in the Kernel file ./lib/parser.c — go say hi, they're all lowkey obsessed with parsing:

okay that's the whole page bestie, you ate that 💅🧚

🌟 cute sign-off: this little gem comes from the ./lib corner of the kernel, dated October 2026, and yes — the section number in the corner is match_wildcard(9) because she's a section-9 girlie fr fr. 💜🎀
📦 where this page comes from