Author: Ernesto De Spirito

How can I know if a file name matches a specification with wildcards?

Answer:

Sometimes we need to know if a file name matches a file specification (a name with 
wildcards: '?' and '*'). Here we implement a function that returns True if the 
given file name matches a specification and False if not. 
1   
2   function MatchesSpec(const FileName,
3     Specification: string): boolean;
4   var
5     SName, SExt, FName, FExt: string;
6   begin
7     FName := ExtractFileName(FileName);
8     SName := ExtractFileName(Specification);
9     FExt := ExtractFileExt(FName);
10    SExt := ExtractFileExt(SName);
11    SetLength(FName, Length(FName) - Length(FExt));
12    SetLength(SName, Length(SName) - Length(SExt));
13    if SName = '' then
14      SName := '*';
15    if SExt = '' then
16      SExt := '.*';
17    if FExt = '' then
18      FExt := '.';
19    Result := Like(FName, SName) and Like(FExt, SExt);
20  end;


NOTE: The Like function has been featured in my article  
"Determining if a string matches a pattern with wildcards ('?' and 
'*')dkb://542874283" 

Sample call 

21  if MatchesSpec('Document1.doc', 'DOC*.DO?') then
22    ShowMessage('It worked!');


Copyright (c) 2001 Ernesto De Spiritomailto:edspirito@latiumsoftware.com
Visit: http://www.latiumsoftware.com/delphi-newsletter.php