Globbing

Globbing is the procedure of

• matching all filenames against a given pattern
• expanding to all matching filenames

Unlike MSDOS, where the called program had to interpret the patterns, the globbing on UNIX® is done by the shell, the matched filenames are given as parameters to a called command:

$ cat *.txt

$ cat 1.txt 3.txt foobar.txt XXX.txt

The term "glob" originates back in the UNIX® days where an executable glob (from "global") existed which was used to expand pattern-matching characters. Later, this functionality was built into the shell. There's still a library function called glob() (POSIX®), which serves the same purpose.

• shell
• hardlink

• pathname expansion