String matching where one string contains wildcard characters | GeeksforGeeks

Given two strings where first string may contain wild card characters and second string is a normal string. Write a function that returns true if the two strings match. The following are allowed wild card characters in first string.

* --> Matches with 0 or more instances of any character or set of characters.  ? --> Matches with any one character.

bool match(char *first, char * second)

{

    // If we reach at the end of both strings, we are done

    if (*first == '\0' && *second == '\0')

        return true;

    // Make sure that the characters after '*' are present in second string.

    // This function assumes that the first string will not contain two

    // consecutive '*'

    if (*first == '*' && *(first+1) != '\0' && *second == '\0')

        return false;

    // If the first string contains '?', or current characters of both

    // strings match

    if (*first == '?' || *first == *second)

        return match(first+1, second+1);

    // If there is *, then there are two possibilities

    // a) We consider current character of second string

    // b) We ignore current character of second string.

    if (*first == '*')

        return match(first+1, second) || match(first, second+1);

    return false;

}

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