Issue #16695: Document how glob handles filenames starting with a dot
diff --git a/Doc/library/glob.rst b/Doc/library/glob.rst
index b881a30..75f67b9 100644
--- a/Doc/library/glob.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/glob.rst
@@ -16,8 +16,10 @@
``*``, ``?``, and character ranges expressed with ``[]`` will be correctly
matched. This is done by using the :func:`os.listdir` and
:func:`fnmatch.fnmatch` functions in concert, and not by actually invoking a
-subshell. (For tilde and shell variable expansion, use
-:func:`os.path.expanduser` and :func:`os.path.expandvars`.)
+subshell. Note that unlike :func:`fnmatch.fnmatch`, :mod:`glob` treats
+filenames beginning with a dot (``.``) as special cases. (For tilde and shell
+variable expansion, use :func:`os.path.expanduser` and
+:func:`os.path.expandvars`.)
For a literal match, wrap the meta-characters in brackets.
For example, ``'[?]'`` matches the character ``'?'``.
@@ -52,6 +54,15 @@
>>> glob.glob('?.gif')
['1.gif']
+If the directory contains files starting with ``.`` they won't be matched by
+default. For example, consider a directory containing :file:`card.gif` and
+:file:`.card.gif`::
+
+ >>> import glob
+ >>> glob.glob('*.gif')
+ ['card.gif']
+ >>> glob.glob('.c*')
+ ['.card.gif']
.. seealso::