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Shell Pattern Matching Rules

*

match any string, including the null string

?

match any single character

[ccc]

match any of the characters in ccc. [a-d0-3] is equivalent to [abcd0123]

"..."

match ... exactly; quotes protect special characters. Also '...'

\c

match c literally

a|b

in case expressions only, matches either a or b

/

in filenames, matched only by an explicit / in the expression; in case, matched like any other character

.

as the first character of a filename, is matched only by an explicit . in the expression