code: protected static Pattern makePattern (String input)
      {
          StringBuilder pattern = new StringBuilder('^');
  
          while (true) {
              String[] parts = _splitter.split(input, 2);
              pattern.append(Pattern.quote(parts[0]));
              if (parts.length == 1) {
                  break;
              }
              int length = parts[0].length();
              String wildcard = input.substring(length, length + 1);
              if (wildcard.equals("*")) {
                  pattern.append(".*");
              } else {
                  System.err.println("Bad wildcard " + wildcard);
              }
              input = parts[1];
          }
  
          pattern.append("$");
          return Pattern.compile(pattern.toString());
      }
docs: Create a real regular expression from the dumbed down input.
  @param input the dumbed down wildcard expression
  @return the calculated regular expression