Synopsis: $match(<pattern> <word list>) $rmatch(<word> <pattern list>) Technical: The $match() function searches through a word list and returns the index to the word that best matches the given pattern. Its opposite is the $rmatch() function, which tries to match a pattern with a list of words. The index counts from 1. Practical: These functions are generally most useful for automated processes. For instance, one could try to match a person's address with a predefined list of address patterns to see if the client should automatically accept channel invitations or DCC CHAT requests. Because they return the index to the best match, and not the matching item, they are mostly useful for boolean-type comparisons. Returns: 0 no matches found >0 index to best match in list Examples: $match(*oo* blah foo booya) returns 2 $match(*oo* blah fubar erf) returns 0 $rmatch(joebob!jbriggs@drivein.com *.com *jbriggs@*) returns 2 $rmatch(joebob!jbriggs@drivein.com *.net *jimbob*) returns 0 See Also: filter(6); pattern(6); rfilter(6); rpattern(6) Other Notes: There is a subtle difference in the way these two functions determine which pattern to match. The $match() function simply returns the first matching word it sees. However, $rmatch() returns the pattern that best matches the given word. It determines which is best by the total number of matching non-wildcard characters in the pattern. In the above example (the third one), the second pattern is returned, because it is a more complete representation of the word to match than the first.