diff --git i/Doc/library/glob.rst w/Doc/library/glob.rst
index b881a30..5746464 100644
--- i/Doc/library/glob.rst
+++ w/Doc/library/glob.rst
@@ -11,13 +11,16 @@
 
 --------------
 
-The :mod:`glob` module finds all the pathnames matching a specified pattern
-according to the rules used by the Unix shell.  No tilde expansion is done, but
-``*``, ``?``, and character ranges expressed with ``[]`` will be correctly
-matched.  This is done by using the :func:`os.listdir` and
-:func:`fnmatch.fnmatch` functions in concert, and not by actually invoking a
-subshell.  (For tilde and shell variable expansion, use
-:func:`os.path.expanduser` and :func:`os.path.expandvars`.)
+The :mod:`glob` module finds all the pathnames matching a specified
+pattern according to the rules used by the Unix shell. No tilde
+expansion is done, but ``*``, ``?``, and character ranges expressed
+with ``[]`` will be correctly matched. This is done by using the
+:func:`os.listdir` and :func:`fnmatch.fnmatch` functions in concert,
+and not by actually invoking a subshell. Note, that unlike
+:func:`fnmatch.fnmatch` the :mod:`glob` treats filenames beginning
+with a dot (``.``) as special cases. (For tilde and shell variable
+expansion, use :func:`os.path.expanduser` and
+:func:`os.path.expandvars`.)
 
 For a literal match, wrap the meta-characters in brackets.
 For example, ``'[?]'`` matches the character ``'?'``.
@@ -52,6 +55,14 @@ preserved. ::
    >>> glob.glob('?.gif')
    ['1.gif']
 
+If the directory contains files starting with ``.`` they won't be
+matched by default. For example, consider directory containing :file:`card.gif` and :file:`.card.gif` ::
+
+   >>> import glob
+   >>> glob.glob('c*')
+   ['card.gif']
+   >>> glob.glob('.c*')
+   ['.card.gif']
 
 .. seealso::
 
diff --git i/Lib/glob.py w/Lib/glob.py
index 0aee605..3a37fd3 100644
--- i/Lib/glob.py
+++ w/Lib/glob.py
@@ -18,7 +18,10 @@ __all__ = ["glob", "iglob"]
 def glob(pathname):
     """Return a list of paths matching a pathname pattern.
 
-    The pattern may contain simple shell-style wildcards a la fnmatch.
+    The pattern may contain simple shell-style wildcards a la
+    fnmatch. However, unlike fnmatch, the filenames starting with
+    period are special cases that are not matched by '*' and '?'
+    patterns.
 
     """
     return list(iglob(pathname))
@@ -26,7 +29,10 @@ def glob(pathname):
 def iglob(pathname):
     """Return an iterator which yields the paths matching a pathname pattern.
 
-    The pattern may contain simple shell-style wildcards a la fnmatch.
+    The pattern may contain simple shell-style wildcards a la
+    fnmatch. However, unlike fnmatch, the filenames starting with
+    period are special cases that are not matched by '*' and '?'
+    patterns.
 
     """
     if not has_magic(pathname):