# Class: com.pnfsoftware.jeb.util.base.StarMatcher

A string matcher accepting wildcard\-expressions `*` \(any number of chars\) and `?` \(any one char\). An initial star is implied to allow matching anywhere in the expression. E.g.: `"blah*foo"` will match `"xxxblahyyyfoo"`.

## Constructor: StarMatcher
- parameter: `searchPattern`, type: `java.lang.String`
- parameter: `caseInsensitive`, type: `boolean`
- parameter: `useEscapes`, type: `boolean`

Description: Create a matcher.
parameter: searchPattern: search string; may contain `*` \(any number of chars\) or `?`            \(any single char\); a leading star is implied by the search routines; `*` and            `?` cannot be used as the search string header, i.e. they will be silently            discarded if found before any actual character sequence; to use `*` and            `?` as actual characters to be searched, escape them with \\; other usual            escapes \(\\r, \\n, \\t, \\', \\"\) can be used; unknown escape sequences will simply be            treated as normal character sequences \\x
parameter: caseInsensitive: true to conduct case\-insensitive searches
parameter: useEscapes: true to allow the escape of special characters question mark, star, as well            as CR, LF, TAB, single\-quote, double\-quote, and backslash, with a backslash            character

## Constructor: StarMatcher
- parameter: `searchPattern`, type: `java.lang.String`

Description: Create a case\-insensitive matcher that supports escape sequences.
parameter: searchPattern: search string \(see [#StarMatcher(String, boolean, boolean)](#StarMatcher(String, boolean, boolean))\)

## Method: collect
- parameter: `values`, type: `java.util.Collection<java.lang.String>`
- return type: `java.util.Collection<java.lang.String>`

Description: Collect all [matches](#matches(String)).
parameter: values: candidate values
return: collection of values that matched

## Method: find
- parameter: `buffer`, type: `java.lang.String`
- parameter: `fromIndex`, type: `int`
- return type: `com.pnfsoftware.jeb.util.base.StarMatcher.Result`

Description: Search for a match in the provided buffer.
parameter: buffer: text to be searched
parameter: fromIndex: start index in the buffer
return: an object or null if nothing was found

## Method: getCharSearchLength
- return type: `int`

Description: Retrieve the minimum number of characters contained in substrings matched by this matcher.
return: minimum matched character count

## Method: matches
- parameter: `value`, type: `java.lang.String`
- return type: `boolean`

Description: Attempt to find the search string inside the provided buffer. This method returns true if the search string is found.
parameter: value: buffer to be searched
return: true if a match was found