0 REM MATCH.TIP (c) 1990 by P.Globman
10 LINEINPUT"TARGET$ ";T$
20 LINEINPUT"MATCH$  ";M$
30 GOSUB100:PRINT:PRINT"Match ";
40 IF NOT FOUND THEN PRINT"not ";
50 PRINT"found!":PRINT:PRINT
60 GOTO10
100 REM----------------- MATCH ROUTINE
101 REM match string (M$) and target
102 REM string (T$) defined before 
103 REM this GOSUB.  Upon return from
104 REM here, variable FOUND (FO) is
105 REM true (-1) if match exists, and
106 REM false (0) otherwise.
107 REM 
108 REM Within M$, "!" will match any
109 REM upper or lower case letter, "#"
110 REM will match any digit (0-9), and
111 REM "?" will match any character.
112 REM
115 FOUND=0:P0=LEN(T$)-LEN(M$)+1:P1=1
120 IFP0<1THENRETURN
125 FOUND=-1:FORP2=1TOLEN(M$)
130 P3=ASC(MID$(M$,P2,1))
135 P4=ASC(MID$(T$,P2+P1-1,1))
140 IF P3=63 THEN 175
145 IF P3<>35 THEN 155
150 IF(P4>47)AND(P4<58)THEN175
155 IF P3<>33 THEN 170
160 IF(P4>64)AND(P4<91)THEN175
165 IF(P4>96)AND(P4<123)THEN175
170 IF P3<>P4 THEN FOUND=0:GOTO180
175 NEXT:RETURN
180 P1=P1+1:IFP1>P0THENRETURNELSE125

Variables P0 thru P4 are use so as not 
to conflict with variables used in 
elsewhere in the program.  Make changes
as necessary but use caution.

The routine is NOT case insensitve for
exact letter matches, but could be made
so.