In list context, returns a (possibly empty) list of filename expansions on
the value of EXPR such as the standard Unix shell /bin/csh would do. In
scalar context, glob iterates through such filename expansions, returning
undef when the list is exhausted. This is the internal function
implementing the <*.c>
operator, but you can use it directly. If
EXPR is omitted, $_
is used. The <*.c>
operator is discussed in
more detail in I/O Operators in perlop.
Note that glob splits its arguments on whitespace and treats
each segment as separate pattern. As such, glob("*.c *.h")
matches all files with a .c or .h extension. The expression
glob(".* *")
matchs all files in the current working directory.
If non-empty braces are the only wildcard characters used in the
glob, no filenames are matched, but potentially many strings
are returned. For example, this produces nine strings, one for
each pairing of fruits and colors:
- @many = glob "{apple,tomato,cherry}={green,yellow,red}";
Beginning with v5.6.0, this operator is implemented using the standard
File::Glob
extension. See File::Glob for details, including
bsd_glob
which does not treat whitespace as a pattern separator.