candidate-string OpenVMS usage:char_string type: character string access: read only mechanism: by descriptor String that is compared to the pattern string. The candidate- string argument is the address of a descriptor pointing to the candidate string. pattern-string OpenVMS usage:char_string type: character string access: read only mechanism: by descriptor String containing wildcard characters. The pattern-string argument is the address of a descriptor pointing to the pattern string. The wildcards in the pattern string are translated when STR$MATCH_WILD searches the candidate string to determine if it matches the pattern string.