diff -r 6510de302f95 -r 35dde32c02ab blog/src/lib/test.luan
--- a/blog/src/lib/test.luan	Mon Jan 18 06:42:50 2016 -0700
+++ b/blog/src/lib/test.luan	Mon Jan 18 23:07:52 2016 -0700
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 local Io = require "luan:Io"
 local print = Io.print or error()
 local String = require "luan:String"
-local match = String.match or error()
+local matches = String.matches or error()
 
 Http.uncache_site()
 
@@ -57,6 +57,6 @@
 init()
 print '/ again'
 page = get_page '/'
-match(page,'this is an edit') or error()
+matches(page,'this is an edit') or error()
 
 print 'done'

diff -r 6510de302f95 -r 35dde32c02ab core/src/luan/modules/Io.luan
--- a/core/src/luan/modules/Io.luan	Mon Jan 18 06:42:50 2016 -0700
+++ b/core/src/luan/modules/Io.luan	Mon Jan 18 23:07:52 2016 -0700
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@
 		for key, value in pairs(obj) do
 			if in_list[key] ~= true then
 				if is_first then is_first = false else %>, <% end
-				if type(key) == "string" and matches(key,"[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z_0-9]*") ~= nil then
+				if type(key) == "string" and matches(key,"^[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z_0-9]*$") ~= nil then
 					%><%=key%><%
 				elseif type(key) == "table" then
 					%>[<<%=key%>>]<%

diff -r 6510de302f95 -r 35dde32c02ab core/src/luan/modules/StringLuan.java
--- a/core/src/luan/modules/StringLuan.java	Mon Jan 18 06:42:50 2016 -0700
+++ b/core/src/luan/modules/StringLuan.java	Mon Jan 18 23:07:52 2016 -0700
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@
 	}
 
 	public static boolean matches(String s,String pattern) {
-		return s.matches(pattern);
+		return Pattern.compile(pattern).matcher(s).find();
 	}
 
 }

diff -r 6510de302f95 -r 35dde32c02ab core/src/luan/modules/Which_mod.luan
--- a/core/src/luan/modules/Which_mod.luan	Mon Jan 18 06:42:50 2016 -0700
+++ b/core/src/luan/modules/Which_mod.luan	Mon Jan 18 23:07:52 2016 -0700
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 local type = Luan.type or error()
 local String = require "luan:String"
 local literal = String.literal or error()
-local match = String.match or error()
+local matches = String.matches or error()
 local Io = require "luan:Io"
 local print = Io.print or error()
 
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
 	local ptn = "[:./]"..literal(name).."$"
 	for _, uri in ipairs(M.uris) do
 		local mod = require(uri)
-		if match(uri,ptn) ~= nil then
+		if matches(uri,ptn) then
 			print(uri)
 		end
 		if type(mod) == "table" then

diff -r 6510de302f95 -r 35dde32c02ab core/src/luan/modules/mmake.luan
--- a/core/src/luan/modules/mmake.luan	Mon Jan 18 06:42:50 2016 -0700
+++ b/core/src/luan/modules/mmake.luan	Mon Jan 18 23:07:52 2016 -0700
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 	local dirs = {}
 	for _, file in ipairs(dir.children()) do
 		local name = file.name()
-		if String.matches(name,[[.*\.java]]) then
+		if String.matches(name,[[\.java$]]) then
 			javas[#javas+1] = String.sub(name,1,-6)
 		end
 		if file.is_directory() and mmake(file) then

diff -r 6510de302f95 -r 35dde32c02ab http/src/luan/modules/http/Http.luan
--- a/http/src/luan/modules/http/Http.luan	Mon Jan 18 06:42:50 2016 -0700
+++ b/http/src/luan/modules/http/Http.luan	Mon Jan 18 23:07:52 2016 -0700
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@
 
 function M.uncache_site()
 	for k in pairs(Table.copy(Package.loaded)) do
-		if matches(k,"site:.*") then
+		if matches(k,"^site:") then
 			Package.loaded[k] = nil
 		end
 	end

diff -r 6510de302f95 -r 35dde32c02ab http/src/luan/modules/http/Http_test.luan
--- a/http/src/luan/modules/http/Http_test.luan	Mon Jan 18 06:42:50 2016 -0700
+++ b/http/src/luan/modules/http/Http_test.luan	Mon Jan 18 23:07:52 2016 -0700
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 M.cookie = {}
 
 function M.get_page(path)
-	if M.welcome_file ~= nil and matches(path,".*/") then
+	if M.welcome_file ~= nil and matches(path,"/$") then
 		path = path .. M.welcome_file
 	end
 	local old_out = Io.stdout

diff -r 6510de302f95 -r 35dde32c02ab http/src/luan/modules/http/Server.luan
--- a/http/src/luan/modules/http/Server.luan	Mon Jan 18 06:42:50 2016 -0700
+++ b/http/src/luan/modules/http/Server.luan	Mon Jan 18 23:07:52 2016 -0700
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 local String = require "luan:String"
 local gsub = String.gsub
-local match = String.match
+local matches = String.matches
 local Io = require "luan:Io"
 local Package = require "luan:Package"
 local Http = require "luan:http/Http"
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@
 	end
 	M.authentication_handler.setPassword(M.private_password)
 	local base = dir
-	if match(base,"^classpath:") ~= nil then
+	if matches(base,"^classpath:") then
 		base = dir.."#"..M.welcome_file.."#"..M.welcome_file..".luan"
 	end
 	M.resource_handler.setResourceBase(Io.uri(base).to_string())

diff -r 6510de302f95 -r 35dde32c02ab lucene/src/luan/modules/lucene/Versioning.luan
--- a/lucene/src/luan/modules/lucene/Versioning.luan	Mon Jan 18 06:42:50 2016 -0700
+++ b/lucene/src/luan/modules/lucene/Versioning.luan	Mon Jan 18 23:07:52 2016 -0700
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 	db.advanced_search( Lucene.literal"id index" .. ":*", function(_,doc_fn)
 		local doc = doc_fn()
 		for field, value in pairs(copy(doc)) do
-			if matches(field,".* index") then
+			if matches(field," index$") then
 				local new_field = sub(field,1,-7)
 				db.indexed_fields[new_field] or error("field '"..new_field.."' not indexed")
 				doc[new_field] = value

diff -r 6510de302f95 -r 35dde32c02ab website/src/manual.html.luan
--- a/website/src/manual.html.luan	Mon Jan 18 06:42:50 2016 -0700
+++ b/website/src/manual.html.luan	Mon Jan 18 23:07:52 2016 -0700
@@ -2550,8 +2550,12 @@
 
 <h4 heading><a name="String.matches"><code>String.matches (s, pattern)</code></a></h4>
 <p>
-Returns a boolean indicating whether the entire string <code>s</code> matches <code>pattern</code>.
-
+Returns a boolean indicating whether the <code>pattern</code> can be found in string <code>s</code>.
+This function is equivalent to
+
+<pre>
+     return String.match(s,pattern) ~= nil
+</pre>
 
 
 <h4 heading><a name="String.rep"><code>String.rep (s, n [, sep])</code></a></h4>