Patterns are a way to specify groups of URLs: a pattern matches a specific set of URLs. If a white pattern matches a URL the browser wants to load, the proxy for that white pattern is used to load the URL unless a black pattern also matches! Black patterns take precendence over white patterns and are always checked first. If both white and black patterns (in the same proxy) match a URL, that proxy is not used to load that URL.
Every URL is compared with the patterns for each proxy. The white/black patterns for the top-most (first) proxy are checked first, then the next set of white/black patterns are checked, and on down the list of proxies until there is a match. If there is no match, Firefox's native proxy settings are used to load the URL. Older versions of FoxyProxy had a Default proxy that acted as a catch-all to matches all URLs. You may still have Default in FoxyProxy if you upgraded from a previous version.
You can re-order the proxies using the arrow buttons as you like, but the white/black patterns for the top-most (first) proxy are checked first.
If a black pattern matches, the proxy is not used for that URL even if a white pattern also matches. The black pattern takes priority. The URL may, however, load through another proxy you've defined if that proxy has a matching whitelist pattern and no matching blacklist pattern.
The order of white patterns and black patterns within a proxy do not matter.
Pattern | Example Matches | Example Non-Matches |
---|---|---|
*.foxyproxy.com Match URLs at foxyproxy.com and all subdomains |
foxyproxy.com/order.html help.foxyproxy.com/index.html foo.bar.foxyproxy.com twostep.foxyproxy.com |
mozilla.com |
.foxyproxy.com Match URLs at foxyproxy.com and all subdomains (same as pattern above) |
foxyproxy.com/order.html help.foxyproxy.com/index.html foo.bar.foxyproxy.com twostep.foxyproxy.com |
mozilla.com |
**.foxyproxy.com Match URLs only at subdomains of foxyproxy.com |
help.foxyproxy.com help.foxyproxy.com/index.html foo.bar.foxyproxy.com |
foxyproxy.com |
foxyproxy.com Match all URLs at foxyproxy.com but not subdomains |
foxyproxy.com foxyproxy.com/index.html |
help.foxyproxy.com |
*foo* Match all URLs with a domain containing the letters foo |
foo.com foodle.com one.befoo.org |
bar.com |
*foo*.com | foo.com foodle.com food.com |
one.befoo.org food.org |
g?ogle.* ? matches any single character |
google.com grogle.org google.com/maps |
goog.com |
.catsinsinks.com:8080 Port matching! |
catsinsinks.com:8080 www.catsinsinks.com:8080 www.catsinsinks.com:8080/privacy |
catinsinks.net |
If a wildcard pattern begins with . or *. then it matches the main domain and all subdomains in a URL.
To match only subdomains, use ** instead of * in the beginning. Example: **.foxyproxy.com will match help.foxyproxy.com but will not match foxyproxy.com.