# 11.7. `glob` — Unix style pathname pattern expansion

Source code: Lib/glob.py

The `glob` module finds all the pathnames matching a specified pattern according to the rules used by the Unix shell, although results are returned in arbitrary order. No tilde expansion is done, but `*`, `?`, and character ranges expressed with `[]` will be correctly matched. This is done by using the `os.listdir()` and `fnmatch.fnmatch()` functions in concert, and not by actually invoking a subshell. Note that unlike `fnmatch.fnmatch()`, `glob` treats filenames beginning with a dot (`.`) as special cases. (For tilde and shell variable expansion, use `os.path.expanduser()` and `os.path.expandvars()`.)

For a literal match, wrap the meta-characters in brackets. For example, `'[?]'` matches the character `'?'`.

See also

The `pathlib` module offers high-level path objects.

`glob.``glob`(pathname, *, recursive=False)

  Return a possibly-empty list of path names that match pathname, which must be a string containing a path specification. pathname can be either absolute (like `/usr/src/Python-1.5/Makefile`) or relative (like `../../Tools/*/*.gif`), and can contain shell-style wildcards. Broken symlinks are included in the results (as in the shell).

  If recursive is true, the pattern “`**`” will match any files and zero or more directories and subdirectories. If the pattern is followed by an `os.sep`, only directories and subdirectories match.

  Note

  Using the “`**`” pattern in large directory trees may consume an inordinate amount of time.

  Changed in version 3.5: Support for recursive globs using “`**`”.

`glob.``iglob`(pathname, recursive=False)

  Return an iterator which yields the same values as `glob()` without actually storing them all simultaneously.

`glob.``escape`(pathname)

  Escape all special characters (`'?'`, `'*'` and `'['`). This is useful if you want to match an arbitrary literal string that may have special characters in it. Special characters in drive/UNC sharepoints are not escaped, e.g. on Windows `escape('//?/c:/Quo vadis?.txt')` returns `'//?/c:/Quo vadis[?].txt'`.

  New in version 3.4.

For example, consider a directory containing the following files: `1.gif`, `2.txt`, `card.gif` and a subdirectory `sub` which contains only the file `3.txt`. `glob()` will produce the following results. Notice how any leading components of the path are preserved.

    >>> import glob
    >>> glob.glob('./[0-9].*')
    ['./1.gif', './2.txt']
    >>> glob.glob('*.gif')
    ['1.gif', 'card.gif']
    >>> glob.glob('?.gif')
    ['1.gif']
    >>> glob.glob('**/*.txt', recursive=True)
    ['2.txt', 'sub/3.txt']
    >>> glob.glob('./**/', recursive=True)
    ['./', './sub/']

If the directory contains files starting with `.` they won’t be matched by default. For example, consider a directory containing `card.gif` and `.card.gif`:

    >>> import glob
    >>> glob.glob('*.gif')
    ['card.gif']
    >>> glob.glob('.c*')
    ['.card.gif']

See also

Module `fnmatch`
  Shell-style filename (not path) expansion