A match pattern is a URL with the following structure, used to specify a group of URLs:
<scheme>://<host>/<path>
scheme: Must be one of the following, separated from the rest of the pattern using a double slash (//
):
http
https
- A wildcard
*
, which matches onlyhttp
oderhttps
file
For information on injecting content scripts into unsupported schemes, such as about:
and data:
, see Injecting in related frames.
host: A hostname (www.example.com
). A *
before the hostname to match subdomains (*.example.com
), or just a wildcard *
.
- If you use a wildcard in the host pattern, it must be the first or only character, and it must be followed by a period (.
) or forward slash (/
).
path: A URL path (/example
). For host permissions, the path is required but ignored. The wildcard (/*
) should be used by convention.
Extensions use match patterns in a variety of use cases, including the following:
- Injecting content script.
- Declaring host permissions that some Chrome APIs require in addition to their own permissions.
- Granting access to web-accessible resources.
- Allowing message sending and receiving using the "externally_connectable.matches" manifest key.
Special cases
"<all_urls>"
- Matches any URL that starts with a permitted scheme, including any pattern listed under valid patterns. Because it affects all hosts, Chrome web store reviews for extensions that use it may take longer.
"file:///"
- Allows your extension to run on local files. This pattern requires the user to manually grant access. Note that this case requires three slashes, not two.
- Localhost URLs and IP addresses
- To match any localhost port during development, use
http://localhost/*
. For IP addresses, specify the address plus a wildcard in the path, as inhttp://127.0.0.1/*
. You can also usehttp://*:*/*
to match localhost, IP addresses, and any port. - Top Level domain match patterns
- Chrome doesn't support match patterns for top Level domains (TLD). Specify your match patterns within individual TLDs, as in
http://google.es/*
andhttp://google.fr/*
.
Example patterns
https://*/*
oderhttps://*/
- Matches any URL using the
https
scheme. https://*/foo*
- Matches any URL using the
https
scheme, on any host, with a path that starts withfoo
. Examples of matches includehttps://example.com/foo/bar.html
andhttps://www.google.com/foo
. https://*.google.com/foo*bar
- Matches any URL using the
https
scheme, on a google.com host, with a path that starts withfoo
and ends withbar
. Examples of matches includehttps://www.google.com/foo/baz/bar
andhttps://docs.google.com/foobar
. file:///foo*
- Matches any local file whose path starts with
foo
. Examples of matches includefile:///foo/bar.html
andfile:///foo
. http://127.0.0.1/*
oderhttp://127.0.0.1/
- Matches any URL that uses the
http
scheme and is on the host 127.0.0.1. Examples of matches includehttp://127.0.0.1/
andhttp://127.0.0.1/foo/bar.html
. http://localhost/*
- Matches any localhost port.
*://mail.google.com/
oder*://mail.google.com/*
- Matches any URL that starts with
http://mail.google.com
oderhttps://mail.google.com
.