VB.NET

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

VB.NET

Dim success As Boolean = False

success = False

' Open an existing ZIP archive.
Dim zip As New Chilkat.Zip

success = zip.OpenZip("example.zip")
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(zip.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


Dim entry As New Chilkat.ZipEntry

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

success = zip.EntryMatching("*.png",entry)

If (success = True) Then
    Debug.WriteLine("Found PNG file:")
    Debug.WriteLine("  " & entry.FileName)
    Debug.WriteLine("")
End If


' ------------------------------------------------------------
' 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
    Debug.WriteLine("First matching docs entry:")
    Debug.WriteLine("  " & entry.FileName)
    Debug.WriteLine("  IsDirectory = " & entry.IsDirectory)
    Debug.WriteLine("")
End If


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

success = zip.EntryMatching("*.json",entry)

If (success = True) Then
    Debug.WriteLine("Found JSON file:")
    Debug.WriteLine("  " & entry.FileName)
    Debug.WriteLine("")
End If


' ------------------------------------------------------------
' 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()

Debug.WriteLine("Done.")