Test whether a glob has any matches in bash

Question

If I want to check for the existence of a single file, I can test for it using test -e filename or [ -e filename ].

Supposing I have a glob

Answer 1

set -- glob*
if [ -f "$1" ]; then
  echo "It matched"
fi

Explanation

When there isn't a match for glob*, then $1 will contain 'glob*'. The test -f "$1" won't be true because the glob* file doesn't exist.

Why this is better than alternatives

This works with sh and derivates: ksh and bash. It doesn't create any sub-shell. $(..) and `...` commands create a sub-shell; they fork a process, and therefore are slower than this solution.