IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, Version 7.1

Include and exclude groups of files with wildcard characters

You can use wildcard characters to include or exclude groups of files.

To specify groups of files that you want to include or exclude, use the wildcard characters listed in the following table. This table applies to include and exclude statements only.

A very large include-exclude list can decrease backup performance. Use wildcards and eliminate unnecessary include statements to keep the list as short as possible.

Table 1. Wildcard and other special characters
Character Function
? The match one character matches any single character except the directory separator; it does not match the end of the string. For example:
  • The pattern ab?, matches abc, but does not match ab, abab, or abzzz.
  • The pattern ab?rs, matches abfrs, but does not match abrs, or abllrs.
  • The pattern ab?ef?rs, matches abdefjrs, but does not match abefrs, abdefrs, or abefjrs.
  • The pattern ab??rs, matches abcdrs, abzzrs, but does not match abrs, abjrs, or abkkkrs.
* The match-all character. For example:
  • The pattern ab*, matches ab, abb, abxxx, but does not match a, b, aa, bb.
  • The pattern ab*rs, matches abrs, abtrs, abrsrs, but does not match ars, or aabrs, abrss.
  • The pattern ab*ef*rs, matches abefrs, abefghrs, but does not match abefr, abers.
  • The pattern abcd.*, matches abcd.c, abcd.txt, but does not match abcd, abcdc, or abcdtxt.
Windows operating systems \... The match-n character matches zero or more directories.
AIX operating systems HP-UX operating systems Linux operating systems Oracle Solaris operating systems Mac OS X operating systems /... The match-n character matches zero or more directories.
[ The open character-class character begins the enumeration of a character class. For example: 
   xxx[abc] matches xxxa, xxxb, or xxxc.
– The character-class range includes characters from the first character to the last character specified. For example: 
   xxx[a-z] matches xxxa, xxxb, xxxc, ... xxxz.

Windows operating systems This format should not be used to specify remote drives in an exclude statement.
AIX operating systems HP-UX operating systems Linux operating systems Oracle Solaris operating systems Mac OS X operating systems Windows operating systems \ The literal escape character. When used within a character class, it treats the next character literally. When used outside of a character class, it is not treated in this way. For example, if you want to include the ']' in a character class, enter [...\]...]. The escape character removes the usual meaning of ']' as the close character-class character.
] The close character-class character ends the enumeration of a character class.
Windows operating systems : The drive separator character separates a file specification. The character before the colon identifies a drive letter. The characters after the colon identify file specification or pattern. For example: 
d:\direct\file.nam
Windows operating systems Note: Because a drive specification can consist of only one letter, you should not use more than one wildcard or a combination of a wildcards with a letter to designate a drive specification. The following patterns are not allowed, and if specified in the client options file (dsm.opt), stops the client program immediately after it starts:
Windows operating systems
Windows operating systems If you are using UNC names, Table 2 shows how to correctly specify shared drives.
Table 2. Specifying a drive specification using wildcards
Incorrect Correct
\\remote\*:\...\*.* \\remote\*$\...\*.*
\\remote\?:\...\*.* \\remote\?$\...\*.*
\\remote\*:\...\pagefile.sys \\remote\*$\...\pagefile.sys
Parent topic: Include-exclude options
Related concepts:
Wildcard characters

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