This is an extended version of Python's builtin glob module (http://docs.python.org/library/glob.html) which adds:

• The ability to capture the text matched by glob patterns, and return those matches alongside the filenames.
• A recursive '**' globbing syntax, akin for example to the globstar option of the bash shell.
• The ability to replace the filesystem functions used, in order to glob on virtual filesystems.
• Compatible with Python 2 and Python 3 (tested with 3.3).

It's currently based on the glob code from Python 3.3.1.

import glob2

for filename, (version,) in glob2.iglob('./binaries/project-*.zip', with_matches=True):
    print version

>>> import glob2
>>> all_header_files = glob2.glob('src/**/*.h')
['src/fs.h', 'src/media/mp3.h', 'src/media/mp3/frame.h', ...]

Note that ** must appear on it's own as a directory element to have its special meaning. **h will not have the desired effect.

** will match ".", so **/*.py returns Python files in the current directory. If this is not wanted, */**/*.py should be used instead.

from glob2 import Globber

class VirtualStorageGlobber(Globber):
    def __init__(self, storage):
        self.storage = storage
    def listdir(self, path):
        # Must raise os.error if path is not a directory
        return self.storage.listdir(path)
    def exists(self, path):
        return self.storage.exists(path)
    def isdir(self, path):
        # Used only for trailing slash syntax (``foo/``).
        return self.storage.isdir(path)
    def islink(self, path):
        # Used only for recursive glob (``**``).
        return self.storage.islink(path)

globber = VirtualStorageGlobber(sftp_storage)
globber.glob('/var/www/**/*.js')

If isdir and/or islink cannot be implemented for a storage, you can make them return a fixed value, with the following consequences:

• If isdir returns True, a glob expression ending with a slash will return all items, even non-directories, if it returns False, the same glob expression will return nothing.
• Return islink True, the recursive globbing syntax ** will follow all links. If you return False, it will not work at all.