* wildcard for any string (see also UN*X ? wildcard for any single character (generally read this way only at the beginning or in the middle of a word) [] delimits a wildcard matching any of the enclosed characters alternation of comma-separated alternatives; thus, `foo baz,qux would be read as `foobaz' or `fooqux' Some examples: "He said his name was [KC]arl" (expresses ambiguity). "I don't read talk.politics.*" (any of the talk.politics subgroups on Usenet ). Other examples are given under the entry for X Note that glob patterns are similar, but not identical, to those used in regexp .
Historical note: The jargon usage derives from `glob', the name of a subprogram that expanded wildcards in archaic pre-Bourne versions of the Unix shell.