PHP wildcard implementation method

$a = 'http://bbs.it-home.org/forum/viewthread.php*';
$b = str_replace('*', '===x===', $a);
$c = preg_quote($b);
$d = str_replace('/', '/', $c);
$e = '/' . str_replace('===x===', '.+', $d) . '/is';

preg_match($e, 'http://bbs.it-home.org/forum/viewthread.php?tid=12345', $m);
print_r($m);
?>