People have already explained that regexp are different than shell matching.

If you're trying to get a list of files matching a file spec, use glob. Otherwise, you'll have to use a regexp.

If the pattern can be a regexp, the following will do fine: 

if ($file =~ /\.txt\z/) {
   print("Match\n");
} else {
   print("No match\n");
}

[download]

If you need must be a file spec, the following will convert (rudimentary, as in just * and ?) file specs into a regexp: 

my $file_pattern = '.*';

my $re_pattern = '';

for ($file_pattern) {
   /\G \*       /gcx && do { $re_pattern .= '.*';            redo };
   /\G \?       /gcx && do { $re_pattern .= '.';             redo };
   /\G ([^*?]+) /gcx && do { $re_pattern .= quotemeta("$1"); redo };
}

my $re = qr/^$re_pattern\z/;

if ($file =~ $re) {
   print("Match\n");
} else {
   print("No match\n");
}

[download]

Don't forget that regexps are case-sensitive by default. Use /\.txt\z/i (first snippet) or qr/^$re_pattern\z/i (second snippet) to make the match case-insensitive.

In reply to Re: simple regex match question by ikegami
in thread simple regex match question by Anonymous Monk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.