Lazarus Pascal Requires Chilkat v11.0.0+

Find ZIP Entries Matching a Wildcard Pattern Using EntryMatching

See more Zip Examples

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

Lazarus Pascal

program ChilkatDemo;

// Demonstrates using the Chilkat Pascal wrapper via the C bridge DLL.
// Builds as a console application under Lazarus (FPC) or Delphi.

{$IFDEF FPC}
  {$MODE DELPHI}
{$ENDIF}
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}

uses
  {$IFDEF UNIX}
  cthreads,
  {$ENDIF}
  SysUtils,
  CkDllLoader,
  Chilkat.ZipEntry,
  Chilkat.Zip;

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

procedure RunDemo;
var
  success: Boolean;
  zip: TZip;
  entry: TZipEntry;

begin
  success := False;

  //  Open an existing ZIP archive.
  zip := TZip.Create;

  success := zip.OpenZip('example.zip');
  if (success = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(zip.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;

  entry := TZipEntry.Create;

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

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

  if (success = True) then
    begin
      WriteLn('Found PNG file:');
      WriteLn('  ' + entry.FileName);
      WriteLn('');
    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);

  if (success = True) then
    begin
      WriteLn('First matching docs entry:');
      WriteLn('  ' + entry.FileName);
      WriteLn('  IsDirectory = ' + entry.IsDirectory);
      WriteLn('');
    end;

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

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

  if (success = True) then
    begin
      WriteLn('Found JSON file:');
      WriteLn('  ' + entry.FileName);
      WriteLn('');
    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();

  WriteLn('Done.');


  zip.Free;
  entry.Free;

end;

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

begin

  try
    RunDemo;
  except
    on E: Exception do
      WriteLn('Unhandled exception: ', E.ClassName, ': ', E.Message);
  end;

  WriteLn;
  {$IFDEF MSWINDOWS}
  WriteLn('Press Enter to exit...');
  ReadLn;
  {$ENDIF}
end.