Merge pull request #8045 from MicrosoftDocs/users/sdanie/440658

Add recursive example to file matching

Author: prmerger-automator[bot]

docs/pipelines/tasks/file-matching-patterns.md

@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@
 title: File matching patterns reference
 description: A reference guide that can help you to understand the file matching patterns for Azure Pipelines and Team Foundation Server (TFS).
 ms.topic: reference
+ai-usage: ai-assisted
 ms.assetid: 8A92C09C-3EE2-48EF-A2C0-3B2005AACFD7
-ms.date: 12/13/2019
+ms.date: 06/24/2025
 monikerRange: '<= azure-devops'
 ---
 
@@ -18,12 +19,19 @@ File and directory names are compared to patterns to include (or sometimes exclu
 You can build up complex behavior by stacking multiple patterns.
 See [fnmatch](http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/fnmatch.3.html) for a full syntax guide.
 
+- [Match characters](#match-characters)
+- [Extended globbing](#extended-globbing)
+- [Comments](#comments)
+- [Exclude patterns](#exclude-patterns)
+- [Escaping](#escaping)
+- [Slash](#slash)
+
 ### Match characters
 
 Most characters are used as exact matches.
 What counts as an "exact" match is platform-dependent:
 the Windows filesystem is case-insensitive, so the pattern "ABC" would match a file called "abc".
-On case-sensitive filesystems, that pattern and name would not match.
+On case-sensitive filesystems, that pattern and name wouldn't match.
 
 The following characters have special behavior.
 
@@ -33,41 +41,57 @@ The following characters have special behavior.
 * `**` recursive wildcard. For example, `/hello/**/*` matches all descendants of `/hello`.
 
 ### Extended globbing
-* `?(hello|world)` - matches `hello` or `world` zero or one times
+
+* `?(hello|world)` - matches `hello` or `world` zero times or one time
 * `*(hello|world)` - zero or more occurrences
 * `+(hello|world)` - one or more occurrences
 * `@(hello|world)` - exactly once
 * `!(hello|world)` - not `hello` or `world`
 
-Note, extended globs cannot span directory separators. For example, `+(hello/world|other)` is not valid.
+> [!NOTE]
+> Extended globs can't span directory separators. For example, `+(hello/world|other)` isn't valid.
 
 ### Comments
+
 Patterns that begin with `#` are treated as comments.
 
 ### Exclude patterns
+
 Leading `!` changes the meaning of an include pattern to exclude.
 You can include a pattern, exclude a subset of it, and then re-include a subset of that:
 this is known as an "interleaved" pattern.
 
 Multiple `!` flips the meaning. See <a href="#doubleexcl_examples">examples</a>.
 
-You must define an include pattern before an exclude one. See <a href="#character_set_examples">examples</a>.
+You must define an include pattern before an exclude pattern. See <a href="#character_set_examples">examples</a>.
 
 ### Escaping
+
+
 Wrapping special characters in `[]` can be used to escape literal glob characters in a file name. For example the literal file name `hello[a-z]` can be escaped as `hello[[]a-z]`.
 
 ### Slash
+
 `/` is used as the path separator on Linux and macOS.
 Most of the time, Windows agents accept `/`.
 Occasions where the Windows separator (`\`) must be used are documented.
 
 ## Examples
 
+- [Basic pattern examples](#basic-pattern-examples)
+- [Asterisk examples](#asterisk_examples)
+- [Question mark examples](#question_mark_examples)
+- [Character set examples](#character_set_examples)
+- [Recursive wildcard examples](#recursive-wildcard-examples)
+- [Exclude pattern examples](#exclude-pattern-examples)
+- [Double exclude examples](#doubleexcl_examples)
+- [Folder exclude examples](#folder-exclude-examples)
+
 ### Basic pattern examples
 
 <h4 id="asterisk_examples">Asterisk examples</h4>
 
-**Example 1:** Given the pattern `*Website.sln` and files:
+**Example 1:** Given the pattern `*Website.sln`, and the following files:
 ```
 ConsoleHost.sln
 ContosoWebsite.sln
@@ -96,7 +120,7 @@ FabrikamWebsite/FabrikamWebsite.proj
 
 <h4 id="question_mark_examples">Question mark examples</h4>
 
-**Example 1:** Given the pattern `log?.log` and files:
+**Example 1:** Given the pattern `log?.log`, and the following files:
 ```
 log1.log
 log2.log
@@ -110,7 +134,7 @@ log2.log
 log3.log
 ```
 
-**Example 2:** Given the pattern `image.???` and files:
+**Example 2:** Given the pattern `image.???`, and the following files:
 ```
 image.tiff
 image.png
@@ -124,7 +148,7 @@ image.ico
 
 <h4 id="character_set_examples">Character set examples</h4>
 
-**Example 1:** Given the pattern `Sample[AC].dat` and files:
+**Example 1:** Given the pattern `Sample[AC].dat`, and the following files:
 ```
 SampleA.dat
 SampleB.dat
@@ -137,7 +161,7 @@ SampleA.dat
 SampleC.dat
 ```
 
-**Example 2:** Given the pattern `Sample[A-C].dat` and files:
+**Example 2:** Given the pattern `Sample[A-C].dat`, and the following files:
 ```
 SampleA.dat
 SampleB.dat
@@ -151,7 +175,7 @@ SampleB.dat
 SampleC.dat
 ```
 
-**Example 3:** Given the pattern `Sample[A-CEG].dat` and files:
+**Example 3:** Given the pattern `Sample[A-CEG].dat`, and the following files:
 ```
 SampleA.dat
 SampleB.dat
@@ -173,28 +197,47 @@ SampleG.dat
 
 #### Recursive wildcard examples
 
-Given the pattern `**/*.ext` and files:
+Given the pattern `**/*.ext`, and the following files:
 ```
 sample1/A.ext
 sample1/B.ext
 sample2/C.ext
 sample2/D.not
 ```
+
 The pattern would match:
+
 ```
 sample1/A.ext
 sample1/B.ext
 sample2/C.ext
 ```
 
+*The following example was generated by Copilot. Copilot is powered by AI, so surprises and mistakes are possible. For more information, see [Copilot general use FAQs](https://aka.ms/copilot-general-use-faqs).*
+
+The `**/*.ext` glob pattern is a powerful recursive pattern used in many file systems and tools (like `bash`, `zsh`, `Python glob`, etc.) to match all files ending in `.ext` in the current directory and all subdirectories, no matter how deeply nested.
+
+Here are some example paths that would match `**/*.ext`:
+
+- `sample1/A.ext`
+- `sample1/B.ext`
+- `sample2/C.ext`
+- `sample2/subdir1/D.ext`
+- `sample2/subdir1/subdir2/E.ext`
+- `sample3/F.ext`
+- `sample3/subdir3/G.ext`
+- `sample3/subdir3/subdir4/H.ext`
+
+The `**` part means any number of directories (including zero), and `*.ext` means any file ending in `.ext`.
+
 ### Exclude pattern examples
 
-Given the pattern:
+Given the following pattern, and the following files:
 ```
 *
 !*.xml
 ```
-and files:
+
 ```
 ConsoleHost.exe
 ConsoleHost.pdb
@@ -211,15 +254,15 @@ Fabrikam.dll
 Fabrikam.pdb
 ```
 
-<h4 id="doubleexcl_examples">Double exclude</h4>
+<h4 id="doubleexcl_examples">Double exclude examples</h4>
 
-Given the pattern:
+Given the following pattern, and the following files:
 ```
 *
 !*.xml
 !!Fabrikam.xml
 ```
-and files:
+
 ```
 ConsoleHost.exe
 ConsoleHost.pdb
@@ -237,14 +280,14 @@ Fabrikam.pdb
 Fabrikam.xml
 ```
 
-<h4 id="doubleexcl_examples">Folder exclude</h4>
+#### Folder exclude examples
 
-Given the pattern:
+Given the following pattern, and the following files:
 ```
 **
 !sample/**
 ```
-and files:
+
 ```
 ConsoleHost.exe
 ConsoleHost.pdb