Test whether a string matches the pattern:

Use abbreviated string patterns:

Give a list of strings as input:

Use the operator form of StringMatchQ:

Use the operator form to select strings:

Use string patterns:

Use a regular expression:

Mix regular expressions and string patterns:

Use pattern matching for dates:

Test for occurrences of either pattern:

StringMatchQ automatically threads over lists of strings:

Check whether a biomolecular sequence will match a string pattern:

Use a wildcard in the pattern compared against a biomolecular sequence:

The "N" is a degenerate letter only in biomolecular sequences:

Use Verbatim to avoid a degenerate match:

Circular sequences support wraparound matches:

Find all words that contain double letters:

For literal strings, SameQ is equivalent to StringMatchQ:

For fast extraction of elements in a list, use Pick:

Compare to Select:

StringMatchQ threads over lists of strings in the first argument:

StringMatchQ["string",{patt₁,patt₂,…}] is equivalent to StringMatchQ["string",Alternatives[patt₁,patt₂,…]]:

Use StringFreeQ to check no substring matches a pattern:

StringMatchQ generally returns False when StringFreeQ is True:

Use StringContainsQ to check if a substring matches a pattern:

StringMatchQ checks whether a whole string matches a pattern:

StringMatchQ generally returns False when StringContainsQ is False:

StringContainsQ["string",patt] is equivalent to StringMatchQ["string",___~~patt~~___]:

StringStartsQ["string",patt] is equivalent to StringMatchQ["string",StartOfString~~patt~~___]:

StringEndsQ["string",patt] is equivalent to StringMatchQ["string",___~~patt~~EndOfString]:

StringMatchQ supports metacharacters:

Most other string functions do not, which can lead to apparently contradictory results:

Wrap string patterns in Verbatim to disable metacharacters, giving consistency between the functions:

StringMatchQ does not work on strings with embedded formatting information:

Spelling correction only works for letter string patterns: