--- a/compare_locales/paths.py
+++ b/compare_locales/paths.py
@@ -46,28 +46,33 @@ class Matcher(object):
             if m.group('star'):
                 p += '([^/]*)'
                 r += r'\%s' % next(backref)
             else:
                 p += re.escape(m.group(1)) + r'(.+%s)?' % m.group(2)
                 r += m.group(1) + r'\%s' % next(backref) + m.group(2)
             last_end = m.end()
         p += re.escape(pattern[last_end:]) + '$'
+        # Now replace variable references with named group matches.
+        # The regex here matches the variable regex plus escaping.
+        p = re.sub(
+            r'\\{(?:\\ )*([\w]+)(?:\\ )*\\}',
+            lambda m: '(?P<{}>.+?)'.format(m.group(1).replace('\\', '')), p)
         r += pattern[last_end:]
         if last_end == 0:
             prefix = pattern
         self.prefix = prefix
         self.regex = re.compile(p)
         self.placable = r
 
     def match(self, path):
         '''
         True if the given path matches the file pattern.
         '''
-        return self.regex.match(path) is not None
+        return self.regex.match(path)
 
     def sub(self, other, path):
         '''
         Replace the wildcard matches in this pattern into the
         pattern of the other Match object.
         '''
         if not self.match(path):
             return None

--- a/compare_locales/tests/test_paths.py
+++ b/compare_locales/tests/test_paths.py
@@ -61,16 +61,34 @@ class TestMatcher(unittest.TestCase):
         )
         self.assertEqual(
             Matcher('foo/*/bar').prefix, 'foo/'
         )
         self.assertEqual(
             Matcher('foo/**/bar').prefix, 'foo'
         )
 
+    def test_variables(self):
+        self.assertDictEqual(
+            Matcher('foo/bar.file').match('foo/bar.file').groupdict(),
+            {}
+        )
+        self.assertDictEqual(
+            Matcher('{path}/bar.file').match('foo/bar.file').groupdict(),
+            {
+                'path': 'foo'
+            }
+        )
+        self.assertDictEqual(
+            Matcher('{ path }/bar.file').match('foo/bar.file').groupdict(),
+            {
+                'path': 'foo'
+            }
+        )
+
 
 class SetupMixin(object):
     def setUp(self):
         self.cfg = ProjectConfig()
         self.file = File(
             '/tmp/somedir/de/browser/one/two/file.ftl',
             'file.ftl',
             module='browser', locale='de')