$rmatch(<word> <pattern list>)

• If the <word> argument is omitted the empty string is returned.
• <pattern list> contains zero or more space separated “extended words”
• Each pattern in <pattern list> is taken as a wildcard pattern, which is matched against <word>, which is taken as literal text.
• If none of the patterns in <pattern list> match <word>, then the return value of $rmatch() is 0 (zero).
• Otherwise, the return value is the word from <pattern list> for the pattern which “best” matches <word>. A pattern's “value” is the number of literal (non-wildcard) characters it contains. The pattern that matches <word> and has the most “value” is the “best” match.
• The return value begins counting words FROM ONE, like match. You will have to subtract one from the return value before using it in some other functions, like $word().
• If none of the patterns in <pattern list> contain wildcards, then you should use the $findw() function instead.
• If <pattern list> contains only one word, you should use the =~ operator instead.

This function can be used to match a bunch of patterns against a single literal word. This is often used to match the $userhost() value against a list of userhosts in an access list. Since ircII does not include the =~ operator, this was the standard way to do pattern matching on one word against one string in scripts. Also, since ircII does not include the $findw() function, this was the standard way to determine if a literal word was present in a literal word list. The $rmatch() function is still generally useful for matching one word against a list of patterns.

 0   no matches found
>0   index to "best" pattern in list -- counting from one!

$rmatch(one o* t* f*)       returns 1
$rmatch(one z* t* f*)       returns 0
$rmatch(one o* on* t* f*)   returns 2

This function first appeared in ircII.