[#BloombergLP-ball-PatternUtil]
= xref:BloombergLP.adoc[BloombergLP]::xref:BloombergLP/ball.adoc[ball]::PatternUtil
:relfileprefix: ../../
:mrdocs:

This utility class provides functions relating to pattern matching for strings.

== Synopsis

Declared in `<ball_patternutil.h>`

[source,cpp,subs="verbatim,replacements,macros,-callouts"]
----
struct PatternUtil;
----

== Static Member Functions

[cols="1,4"]
|===
| Name| Description
| xref:BloombergLP/ball/PatternUtil/isMatch.adoc[`isMatch`] 
| Return `true` if the specified `pattern` matches the specified `inputString`, and `false` if the pattern does not match or is invalid. There are two types of escape sequences that are allowed in `pattern`. (See the function‐level documentation of `PatternUtil::isValidPattern` for the definition of invalid patterns.) A '*` escape sequence in `pattern' matches a single `*` in `inputString`. A '' escape sequence in `pattern` matches a single '' in `inputString`. If `pattern` ends with an unescaped `*`, then `pattern` matches `inputString` if the string indicated by `pattern` (after escape sequence processing) with the final `*` removed is a prefix of `inputString`. Otherwise `pattern` matches `inputString` only if the string indicated by `pattern` (after escape sequence processing) and `inputString` are the same. The behavior is undefined unless both `inputString` and `pattern` are null‐terminated c‐style strings.
| xref:BloombergLP/ball/PatternUtil/isValidPattern.adoc[`isValidPattern`] 
| Return `true` if the specified `pattern` does not contain a '' not followed by either '' or `*`, or an unescaped `*` at locations other than at the end, and `false` otherwise. Note that an unescaped `*` not at the end may someday be considered a valid pattern.
|===



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