What does ** mean in Phing?

Question

The Phing User's Guide uses the following description of the ** file filter:

"Two asterisks (**) may include above the "border" of the directory separator."

I'm having a hard time deciphering what this really means. Can somebody please translate this into English?

Answer 1

** matches any character while * matches anything except for a directory separator.

For example, /path/** will match either of these:

• /path/file
• /path/to/some/file
• /path/to/some/other/file

However, /path/* will only match the first one.