/**
 * Convert a wildcard pattern into a safe regular expression that only
 * treats asterisks as wildcards while escaping all other regex metacharacters.
 */
export function wildcardToSafeRegex(pattern: string): RegExp {
  // Prevent ReDoS attacks by normalizing consecutive wildcards
  const normalized = pattern.replace(/\*+/g, '*');

  const specialChars = /[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g;
  const escape = (value: string): string => value.replace(specialChars, "\\$&");
  const parts = normalized.split('*').map(escape);
  return new RegExp(`^${parts.join('.*')}$`);
}