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Delphi ActiveX Requires Chilkat v11.0.0+

Find ZIP Entries Matching a Wildcard Pattern Using EntryMatching

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This example demonstrates how to use the EntryMatching method to find ZIP entries whose stored paths match a wildcard pattern.

The wildcard character * matches zero or more characters. The comparison is performed against the full stored path within the ZIP archive.

This method is useful for:

  • Finding files having a particular extension
  • Locating files within specific subdirectories
  • Searching ZIP archives without manually iterating through every entry

Suppose the ZIP archive contains:

docs/
docs/readme.txt
docs/manual.pdf
images/logo.png
images/banner.jpg
data/config/settings.json

Notice that the ZIP archive contains an explicit directory entry named docs/. ZIP archives may optionally contain separate directory entries in addition to file entries.

When searching with the pattern docs/*, the first matching entry could therefore be the directory entry docs/ rather than a file contained within that directory.

The example searches for:

  • The first .png file
  • The first entry beneath the docs directory
  • The first JSON file anywhere within the ZIP archive

Chilkat Delphi ActiveX Downloads

Delphi ActiveX
var
success: Integer;
zip: TChilkatZip;
entry: TChilkatZipEntry;

begin
success := 0;

//  Open an existing ZIP archive.
zip := TChilkatZip.Create(Self);

success := zip.OpenZip('example.zip');
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(zip.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

entry := TChilkatZipEntry.Create(Self);

//  ------------------------------------------------------------
//  Find the first .png file in the ZIP archive.

success := zip.EntryMatching('*.png',entry.ControlInterface);

if (success = 1) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add('Found PNG file:');
    Memo1.Lines.Add('  ' + entry.FileName);
    Memo1.Lines.Add('');
  end;

//  ------------------------------------------------------------
//  Find the first entry beneath the docs directory.
//  
//  Note: ZIP archives may optionally contain explicit directory
//  entries such as "docs/" in addition to file entries.
//  Therefore, the first matching entry could be the directory
//  itself rather than a file contained within the directory.

success := zip.EntryMatching('docs/*',entry.ControlInterface);

if (success = 1) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add('First matching docs entry:');
    Memo1.Lines.Add('  ' + entry.FileName);
    Memo1.Lines.Add('  IsDirectory = ' + IntToStr(Ord(entry.IsDirectory)));
    Memo1.Lines.Add('');
  end;

//  ------------------------------------------------------------
//  Find the first JSON file anywhere in the ZIP archive.

success := zip.EntryMatching('*.json',entry.ControlInterface);

if (success = 1) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add('Found JSON file:');
    Memo1.Lines.Add('  ' + entry.FileName);
    Memo1.Lines.Add('');
  end;

//  ------------------------------------------------------------
//  The matching is performed against the full stored ZIP path.
//  For example:
//  
//      docs/readme.txt
//      images/logo.png
//      data/config/settings.json
//  
//  The wildcard '*' matches zero or more characters.

zip.CloseZip();

Memo1.Lines.Add('Done.');