I want a regex to remove all instances of dollar signs, commas, and opening and closing parentheses so that the String can be parsed to a Double.
Exmaples are:
($108.34)
$39.60
1,388.80
The code:
#Parsed
#Replace(expression = "", replacement = "")
public Double extdPrice;
This may help, we delete all the elements in this list: , $ ( )
import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
public class Example {
public static void main(String[] args) {
final String regex = "[(),$]";
final String string = "($108.34)\n"
+ "$39.60\n"
+ "1,388.80";
final String subst = "";
final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex);
final Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(string);
// The substituted value will be contained in the result variable
final String result = matcher.replaceAll(subst);
System.out.println("Substitution result: " + result);
}
}
\d{1,3}(\,\d\d\d)*(\.\d+)?
can match all number like your examples, but it can't match 123456(no comma).
result was
108.34
39.60
1,388.80
and you need replace comma
Regex Expression = [^0-9\\.]
is what you are looking for. It will match anything other than digits 0-9 and character .
So technically this regex will remove all extra characters like ( , $ USD and etc
Example: System.out.println("($123.89)".replaceAll("[^0-9\\.]", "")); will give an output 123.89
Test output:
($108.34) => 108.34
$39.60 => 39.60
1,388.80 => 1388.80
I have several strings in the rough form:
[some text] [some number] [some more text]
I want to extract the text in [some number] using the Java Regex classes.
I know roughly what regular expression I want to use (though all suggestions are welcome). What I'm really interested in are the Java calls to take the regex string and use it on the source data to produce the value of [some number].
EDIT: I should add that I'm only interested in a single [some number] (basically, the first instance). The source strings are short and I'm not going to be looking for multiple occurrences of [some number].
Full example:
private static final Pattern p = Pattern.compile("^([a-zA-Z]+)([0-9]+)(.*)");
public static void main(String[] args) {
// create matcher for pattern p and given string
Matcher m = p.matcher("Testing123Testing");
// if an occurrence if a pattern was found in a given string...
if (m.find()) {
// ...then you can use group() methods.
System.out.println(m.group(0)); // whole matched expression
System.out.println(m.group(1)); // first expression from round brackets (Testing)
System.out.println(m.group(2)); // second one (123)
System.out.println(m.group(3)); // third one (Testing)
}
}
Since you're looking for the first number, you can use such regexp:
^\D+(\d+).*
and m.group(1) will return you the first number. Note that signed numbers can contain a minus sign:
^\D+(-?\d+).*
import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
public class Regex1 {
public static void main(String[]args) {
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("\\d+");
Matcher m = p.matcher("hello1234goodboy789very2345");
while(m.find()) {
System.out.println(m.group());
}
}
}
Output:
1234
789
2345
Allain basically has the java code, so you can use that. However, his expression only matches if your numbers are only preceded by a stream of word characters.
"(\\d+)"
should be able to find the first string of digits. You don't need to specify what's before it, if you're sure that it's going to be the first string of digits. Likewise, there is no use to specify what's after it, unless you want that. If you just want the number, and are sure that it will be the first string of one or more digits then that's all you need.
If you expect it to be offset by spaces, it will make it even more distinct to specify
"\\s+(\\d+)\\s+"
might be better.
If you need all three parts, this will do:
"(\\D+)(\\d+)(.*)"
EDIT The Expressions given by Allain and Jack suggest that you need to specify some subset of non-digits in order to capture digits. If you tell the regex engine you're looking for \d then it's going to ignore everything before the digits. If J or A's expression fits your pattern, then the whole match equals the input string. And there's no reason to specify it. It probably slows a clean match down, if it isn't totally ignored.
In addition to Pattern, the Java String class also has several methods that can work with regular expressions, in your case the code will be:
"ab123abc".replaceFirst("\\D*(\\d*).*", "$1")
where \\D is a non-digit character.
In Java 1.4 and up:
String input = "...";
Matcher matcher = Pattern.compile("[^0-9]+([0-9]+)[^0-9]+").matcher(input);
if (matcher.find()) {
String someNumberStr = matcher.group(1);
// if you need this to be an int:
int someNumberInt = Integer.parseInt(someNumberStr);
}
This function collect all matching sequences from string. In this example it takes all email addresses from string.
static final String EMAIL_PATTERN = "[_A-Za-z0-9-\\+]+(\\.[_A-Za-z0-9-]+)*#"
+ "[A-Za-z0-9-]+(\\.[A-Za-z0-9]+)*(\\.[A-Za-z]{2,})";
public List<String> getAllEmails(String message) {
List<String> result = null;
Matcher matcher = Pattern.compile(EMAIL_PATTERN).matcher(message);
if (matcher.find()) {
result = new ArrayList<String>();
result.add(matcher.group());
while (matcher.find()) {
result.add(matcher.group());
}
}
return result;
}
For message = "adf#gmail.com, <another#osiem.osiem>>>> lalala#aaa.pl" it will create List of 3 elements.
Try doing something like this:
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("^.+(\\d+).+");
Matcher m = p.matcher("Testing123Testing");
if (m.find()) {
System.out.println(m.group(1));
}
Simple Solution
// Regexplanation:
// ^ beginning of line
// \\D+ 1+ non-digit characters
// (\\d+) 1+ digit characters in a capture group
// .* 0+ any character
String regexStr = "^\\D+(\\d+).*";
// Compile the regex String into a Pattern
Pattern p = Pattern.compile(regexStr);
// Create a matcher with the input String
Matcher m = p.matcher(inputStr);
// If we find a match
if (m.find()) {
// Get the String from the first capture group
String someDigits = m.group(1);
// ...do something with someDigits
}
Solution in a Util Class
public class MyUtil {
private static Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("^\\D+(\\d+).*");
private static Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher("");
// Assumptions: inputStr is a non-null String
public static String extractFirstNumber(String inputStr){
// Reset the matcher with a new input String
matcher.reset(inputStr);
// Check if there's a match
if(matcher.find()){
// Return the number (in the first capture group)
return matcher.group(1);
}else{
// Return some default value, if there is no match
return null;
}
}
}
...
// Use the util function and print out the result
String firstNum = MyUtil.extractFirstNumber("Testing4234Things");
System.out.println(firstNum);
Look you can do it using StringTokenizer
String str = "as:"+123+"as:"+234+"as:"+345;
StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer(str,"as:");
while(st.hasMoreTokens())
{
String k = st.nextToken(); // you will get first numeric data i.e 123
int kk = Integer.parseInt(k);
System.out.println("k string token in integer " + kk);
String k1 = st.nextToken(); // you will get second numeric data i.e 234
int kk1 = Integer.parseInt(k1);
System.out.println("new string k1 token in integer :" + kk1);
String k2 = st.nextToken(); // you will get third numeric data i.e 345
int kk2 = Integer.parseInt(k2);
System.out.println("k2 string token is in integer : " + kk2);
}
Since we are taking these numeric data into three different variables we can use this data anywhere in the code (for further use)
How about [^\\d]*([0-9]+[\\s]*[.,]{0,1}[\\s]*[0-9]*).* I think it would take care of numbers with fractional part.
I included white spaces and included , as possible separator.
I'm trying to get the numbers out of a string including floats and taking into account that the user might make a mistake and include white spaces while typing the number.
Sometimes you can use simple .split("REGEXP") method available in java.lang.String. For example:
String input = "first,second,third";
//To retrieve 'first'
input.split(",")[0]
//second
input.split(",")[1]
//third
input.split(",")[2]
if you are reading from file then this can help you
try{
InputStream inputStream = (InputStream) mnpMainBean.getUploadedBulk().getInputStream();
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(inputStream));
String line;
//Ref:03
while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
if (line.matches("[A-Z],\\d,(\\d*,){2}(\\s*\\d*\\|\\d*:)+")) {
String[] splitRecord = line.split(",");
//do something
}
else{
br.close();
//error
return;
}
}
br.close();
}
}
catch (IOException ioExpception){
logger.logDebug("Exception " + ioExpception.getStackTrace());
}
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("(\\D+)(\\d+)(.*)");
Matcher m = p.matcher("this is your number:1234 thank you");
if (m.find()) {
String someNumberStr = m.group(2);
int someNumberInt = Integer.parseInt(someNumberStr);
}
I want to split the string "004-034556" into two strings by the delimiter "-":
part1 = "004";
part2 = "034556";
That means the first string will contain the characters before '-', and the second string will contain the characters after '-'.
I also want to check if the string has '-' in it.
Use the appropriately named method String#split().
String string = "004-034556";
String[] parts = string.split("-");
String part1 = parts[0]; // 004
String part2 = parts[1]; // 034556
Note that split's argument is assumed to be a regular expression, so remember to escape special characters if necessary.
there are 12 characters with special meanings: the backslash \, the caret ^, the dollar sign $, the period or dot ., the vertical bar or pipe symbol |, the question mark ?, the asterisk or star *, the plus sign +, the opening parenthesis (, the closing parenthesis ), and the opening square bracket [, the opening curly brace {, These special characters are often called "metacharacters".
For instance, to split on a period/dot . (which means "any character" in regex), use either backslash \ to escape the individual special character like so split("\\."), or use character class [] to represent literal character(s) like so split("[.]"), or use Pattern#quote() to escape the entire string like so split(Pattern.quote(".")).
String[] parts = string.split(Pattern.quote(".")); // Split on the exact string.
To test beforehand if the string contains certain character(s), just use String#contains().
if (string.contains("-")) {
// Split it.
} else {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("String " + string + " does not contain -");
}
Note, this does not take a regular expression. For that, use String#matches() instead.
If you'd like to retain the split character in the resulting parts, then make use of positive lookaround. In case you want to have the split character to end up in left hand side, use positive lookbehind by prefixing ?<= group on the pattern.
String string = "004-034556";
String[] parts = string.split("(?<=-)");
String part1 = parts[0]; // 004-
String part2 = parts[1]; // 034556
In case you want to have the split character to end up in right hand side, use positive lookahead by prefixing ?= group on the pattern.
String string = "004-034556";
String[] parts = string.split("(?=-)");
String part1 = parts[0]; // 004
String part2 = parts[1]; // -034556
If you'd like to limit the number of resulting parts, then you can supply the desired number as 2nd argument of split() method.
String string = "004-034556-42";
String[] parts = string.split("-", 2);
String part1 = parts[0]; // 004
String part2 = parts[1]; // 034556-42
An alternative to processing the string directly would be to use a regular expression with capturing groups. This has the advantage that it makes it straightforward to imply more sophisticated constraints on the input. For example, the following splits the string into two parts, and ensures that both consist only of digits:
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
import java.util.regex.Matcher;
class SplitExample
{
private static Pattern twopart = Pattern.compile("(\\d+)-(\\d+)");
public static void checkString(String s)
{
Matcher m = twopart.matcher(s);
if (m.matches()) {
System.out.println(s + " matches; first part is " + m.group(1) +
", second part is " + m.group(2) + ".");
} else {
System.out.println(s + " does not match.");
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
checkString("123-4567");
checkString("foo-bar");
checkString("123-");
checkString("-4567");
checkString("123-4567-890");
}
}
As the pattern is fixed in this instance, it can be compiled in advance and stored as a static member (initialised at class load time in the example). The regular expression is:
(\d+)-(\d+)
The parentheses denote the capturing groups; the string that matched that part of the regexp can be accessed by the Match.group() method, as shown. The \d matches and single decimal digit, and the + means "match one or more of the previous expression). The - has no special meaning, so just matches that character in the input. Note that you need to double-escape the backslashes when writing this as a Java string. Some other examples:
([A-Z]+)-([A-Z]+) // Each part consists of only capital letters
([^-]+)-([^-]+) // Each part consists of characters other than -
([A-Z]{2})-(\d+) // The first part is exactly two capital letters,
// the second consists of digits
Use:
String[] result = yourString.split("-");
if (result.length != 2)
throw new IllegalArgumentException("String not in correct format");
This will split your string into two parts. The first element in the array will be the part containing the stuff before the -, and the second element in the array will contain the part of your string after the -.
If the array length is not 2, then the string was not in the format: string-string.
Check out the split() method in the String class.
This:
String[] out = string.split("-");
should do the thing you want. The string class has many method to operate with a string.
// This leaves the regexes issue out of question
// But we must remember that each character in the Delimiter String is treated
// like a single delimiter
public static String[] SplitUsingTokenizer(String subject, String delimiters) {
StringTokenizer strTkn = new StringTokenizer(subject, delimiters);
ArrayList<String> arrLis = new ArrayList<String>(subject.length());
while(strTkn.hasMoreTokens())
arrLis.add(strTkn.nextToken());
return arrLis.toArray(new String[0]);
}
With Java 8:
List<String> stringList = Pattern.compile("-")
.splitAsStream("004-034556")
.collect(Collectors.toList());
stringList.forEach(s -> System.out.println(s));
Use org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils' split method which can split strings based on the character or string you want to split.
Method signature:
public static String[] split(String str, char separatorChar);
In your case, you want to split a string when there is a "-".
You can simply do as follows:
String str = "004-034556";
String split[] = StringUtils.split(str,"-");
Output:
004
034556
Assume that if - does not exists in your string, it returns the given string, and you will not get any exception.
The requirements left room for interpretation. I recommend writing a method,
public final static String[] mySplit(final String s)
which encapsulate this function. Of course you can use String.split(..) as mentioned in the other answers for the implementation.
You should write some unit-tests for input strings and the desired results and behaviour.
Good test candidates should include:
- "0022-3333"
- "-"
- "5555-"
- "-333"
- "3344-"
- "--"
- ""
- "553535"
- "333-333-33"
- "222--222"
- "222--"
- "--4555"
With defining the according test results, you can specify the behaviour.
For example, if "-333" should return in [,333] or if it is an error.
Can "333-333-33" be separated in [333,333-33] or [333-333,33] or is it an error? And so on.
To summarize: there are at least five ways to split a string in Java:
String.split():
String[] parts ="10,20".split(",");
Pattern.compile(regexp).splitAsStream(input):
List<String> strings = Pattern.compile("\\|")
.splitAsStream("010|020202")
.collect(Collectors.toList());
StringTokenizer (legacy class):
StringTokenizer strings = new StringTokenizer("Welcome to EXPLAINJAVA.COM!", ".");
while(strings.hasMoreTokens()){
String substring = strings.nextToken();
System.out.println(substring);
}
Google Guava Splitter:
Iterable<String> result = Splitter.on(",").split("1,2,3,4");
Apache Commons StringUtils:
String[] strings = StringUtils.split("1,2,3,4", ",");
So you can choose the best option for you depending on what you need, e.g. return type (array, list, or iterable).
Here is a big overview of these methods and the most common examples (how to split by dot, slash, question mark, etc.)
You can try like this also
String concatenated_String="hi^Hello";
String split_string_array[]=concatenated_String.split("\\^");
Assuming, that
you don't really need regular expressions for your split
you happen to already use apache commons lang in your app
The easiest way is to use StringUtils#split(java.lang.String, char). That's more convenient than the one provided by Java out of the box if you don't need regular expressions. Like its manual says, it works like this:
A null input String returns null.
StringUtils.split(null, *) = null
StringUtils.split("", *) = []
StringUtils.split("a.b.c", '.') = ["a", "b", "c"]
StringUtils.split("a..b.c", '.') = ["a", "b", "c"]
StringUtils.split("a:b:c", '.') = ["a:b:c"]
StringUtils.split("a b c", ' ') = ["a", "b", "c"]
I would recommend using commong-lang, since usually it contains a lot of stuff that's usable. However, if you don't need it for anything else than doing a split, then implementing yourself or escaping the regex is a better option.
For simple use cases String.split() should do the job. If you use guava, there is also a Splitter class which allows chaining of different string operations and supports CharMatcher:
Splitter.on('-')
.trimResults()
.omitEmptyStrings()
.split(string);
The fastest way, which also consumes the least resource could be:
String s = "abc-def";
int p = s.indexOf('-');
if (p >= 0) {
String left = s.substring(0, p);
String right = s.substring(p + 1);
} else {
// s does not contain '-'
}
String Split with multiple characters using Regex
public class StringSplitTest {
public static void main(String args[]) {
String s = " ;String; String; String; String, String; String;;String;String; String; String; ;String;String;String;String";
//String[] strs = s.split("[,\\s\\;]");
String[] strs = s.split("[,\\;]");
System.out.println("Substrings length:"+strs.length);
for (int i=0; i < strs.length; i++) {
System.out.println("Str["+i+"]:"+strs[i]);
}
}
}
Output:
Substrings length:17
Str[0]:
Str[1]:String
Str[2]: String
Str[3]: String
Str[4]: String
Str[5]: String
Str[6]: String
Str[7]:
Str[8]:String
Str[9]:String
Str[10]: String
Str[11]: String
Str[12]:
Str[13]:String
Str[14]:String
Str[15]:String
Str[16]:String
But do not expect the same output across all JDK versions. I have seen one bug which exists in some JDK versions where the first null string has been ignored. This bug is not present in the latest JDK version, but it exists in some versions between JDK 1.7 late versions and 1.8 early versions.
There are only two methods you really need to consider.
Use String.split for a one-character delimiter or you don't care about performance
If performance is not an issue, or if the delimiter is a single character that is not a regular expression special character (i.e., not one of .$|()[{^?*+\) then you can use String.split.
String[] results = input.split(",");
The split method has an optimization to avoid using a regular expression if the delimeter is a single character and not in the above list. Otherwise, it has to compile a regular expression, and this is not ideal.
Use Pattern.split and precompile the pattern if using a complex delimiter and you care about performance.
If performance is an issue, and your delimiter is not one of the above, you should pre-compile a regular expression pattern which you can then reuse.
// Save this somewhere
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("[,;:]");
/// ... later
String[] results = pattern.split(input);
This last option still creates a new Matcher object. You can also cache this object and reset it for each input for maximum performance, but that is somewhat more complicated and not thread-safe.
You can split a string by a line break by using the following statement:
String textStr[] = yourString.split("\\r?\\n");
You can split a string by a hyphen/character by using the following statement:
String textStr[] = yourString.split("-");
public class SplitTest {
public static String[] split(String text, String delimiter) {
java.util.List<String> parts = new java.util.ArrayList<String>();
text += delimiter;
for (int i = text.indexOf(delimiter), j=0; i != -1;) {
String temp = text.substring(j,i);
if(temp.trim().length() != 0) {
parts.add(temp);
}
j = i + delimiter.length();
i = text.indexOf(delimiter,j);
}
return parts.toArray(new String[0]);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
String str = "004-034556";
String delimiter = "-";
String result[] = split(str, delimiter);
for(String s:result)
System.out.println(s);
}
}
Please don't use StringTokenizer class as it is a legacy class that is retained for compatibility reasons, and its use is discouraged in new code. And we can make use of the split method as suggested by others as well.
String[] sampleTokens = "004-034556".split("-");
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(sampleTokens));
And as expected it will print:
[004, 034556]
In this answer I also want to point out one change that has taken place for split method in Java 8. The String#split() method makes use of Pattern.split, and now it will remove empty strings at the start of the result array. Notice this change in documentation for Java 8:
When there is a positive-width match at the beginning of the input
sequence then an empty leading substring is included at the beginning
of the resulting array. A zero-width match at the beginning however
never produces such empty leading substring.
It means for the following example:
String[] sampleTokensAgain = "004".split("");
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(sampleTokensAgain));
we will get three strings: [0, 0, 4] and not four as was the case in Java 7 and before. Also check this similar question.
One way to do this is to run through the String in a for-each loop and use the required split character.
public class StringSplitTest {
public static void main(String[] arg){
String str = "004-034556";
String split[] = str.split("-");
System.out.println("The split parts of the String are");
for(String s:split)
System.out.println(s);
}
}
Output:
The split parts of the String are:
004
034556
import java.io.*;
public class BreakString {
public static void main(String args[]) {
String string = "004-034556-1234-2341";
String[] parts = string.split("-");
for(int i=0;i<parts.length;i++) ｛
System.out.println(parts[i]);
}
}
}
You can use Split():
import java.io.*;
public class Splitting
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
String Str = new String("004-034556");
String[] SplittoArray = Str.split("-");
String string1 = SplittoArray[0];
String string2 = SplittoArray[1];
}
}
Else, you can use StringTokenizer:
import java.util.*;
public class Splitting
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
StringTokenizer Str = new StringTokenizer("004-034556");
String string1 = Str.nextToken("-");
String string2 = Str.nextToken("-");
}
}
Here are two ways two achieve it.
WAY 1: As you have to split two numbers by a special character you can use regex
import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
public class TrialClass
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("[0-9]+");
Matcher m = p.matcher("004-034556");
while(m.find())
{
System.out.println(m.group());
}
}
}
WAY 2: Using the string split method
public class TrialClass
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
String temp = "004-034556";
String [] arrString = temp.split("-");
for(String splitString:arrString)
{
System.out.println(splitString);
}
}
}
You can simply use StringTokenizer to split a string in two or more parts whether there are any type of delimiters:
StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer("004-034556", "-");
while(st.hasMoreTokens())
{
System.out.println(st.nextToken());
}
Check out the split() method in the String class on javadoc.
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/String.html#split(java.lang.String)
String data = "004-034556-1212-232-232";
int cnt = 1;
for (String item : data.split("-")) {
System.out.println("string "+cnt+" = "+item);
cnt++;
}
Here many examples for split string but I little code optimized.
String str="004-034556"
String[] sTemp=str.split("-");// '-' is a delimiter
string1=004 // sTemp[0];
string2=034556//sTemp[1];
I just wanted to write an algorithm instead of using Java built-in functions:
public static List<String> split(String str, char c){
List<String> list = new ArrayList<>();
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
for (int i = 0; i < str.length(); i++){
if(str.charAt(i) != c){
sb.append(str.charAt(i));
}
else{
if(sb.length() > 0){
list.add(sb.toString());
sb = new StringBuilder();
}
}
}
if(sb.length() >0){
list.add(sb.toString());
}
return list;
}
You can use the method split:
public class Demo {
public static void main(String args[]) {
String str = "004-034556";
if ((str.contains("-"))) {
String[] temp = str.split("-");
for (String part:temp) {
System.out.println(part);
}
}
else {
System.out.println(str + " does not contain \"-\".");
}
}
}
To split a string, uses String.split(regex). Review the following examples:
String data = "004-034556";
String[] output = data.split("-");
System.out.println(output[0]);
System.out.println(output[1]);
Output
004
034556
Note:
This split (regex) takes a regex as an argument. Remember to escape the regex special characters, like period/dot.
String s = "TnGeneral|DOMESTIC";
String a[]=s.split("\\|");
System.out.println(a.toString());
System.out.println(a[0]);
System.out.println(a[1]);
Output:
TnGeneral
DOMESTIC
String s="004-034556";
for(int i=0;i<s.length();i++)
{
if(s.charAt(i)=='-')
{
System.out.println(s.substring(0,i));
System.out.println(s.substring(i+1));
}
}
As mentioned by everyone, split() is the best option which may be used in your case. An alternative method can be using substring().
I'm trying to write a function that extracts each word from a sentence that contains a certain substring e.g. Looking for 'Po' in 'Porky Pork Chop' will return Porky Pork.
I've tested my regex on regexpal but the Java code doesn't seem to work. What am I doing wrong?
private static String foo()
{
String searchTerm = "Pizza";
String text = "Cheese Pizza";
String sPattern = "(?i)\b("+searchTerm+"(.+?)?)\b";
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile ( sPattern );
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher ( text );
if(matcher.find ())
{
String result = "-";
for(int i=0;i < matcher.groupCount ();i++)
{
result+= matcher.group ( i ) + " ";
}
return result.trim ();
}else
{
System.out.println("No Luck");
}
}
In Java to pass \b word boundaries to regex engine you need to write it as \\b. \b represents backspace in String object.
Judging by your example you want to return all words that contains your substring. To do this don't use for(int i=0;i < matcher.groupCount ();i++) but while(matcher.find()) since group count will iterate over all groups in single match, not over all matches.
In case your string can contain some special characters you probably should use Pattern.quote(searchTerm)
In your code you are trying to find "Pizza" in "Cheese Pizza" so I assume that you also want to find strings that same as searched substring. Although your regex will work fine for it, you can change your last part (.+?)?) to \\w* and also add \\w* at start if substring should also be matched in the middle of word (not only at start).
So your code can look like
private static String foo() {
String searchTerm = "Pizza";
String text = "Cheese Pizza, Other Pizzas";
String sPattern = "(?i)\\b\\w*" + Pattern.quote(searchTerm) + "\\w*\\b";
StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder("-").append(searchTerm).append(": ");
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(sPattern);
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(text);
while (matcher.find()) {
result.append(matcher.group()).append(' ');
}
return result.toString().trim();
}
While the regex approach is certainly a valid method, I find it easier to think through when you split the words up by whitespace. This can be done with String's split method.
public List<String> doIt(final String inputString, final String term) {
final List<String> output = new ArrayList<String>();
final String[] parts = input.split("\\s+");
for(final String part : parts) {
if(part.indexOf(term) > 0) {
output.add(part);
}
}
return output;
}
Of course it is worth nothing that doing this will effectively be doing two passes through your input String. The first pass to find the characters that are whitespace to split on, and the second pass looking through each split word for your substring.
If one pass is necessary though, the regex path is better.
I find nicholas.hauschild's answer to be the best.
However if you really wanted to use regex, you could do it as such:
String searchTerm = "Pizza";
String text = "Cheese Pizza";
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("\\b" + Pattern.quote(searchTerm)
+ "\\b", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(text);
while (matcher.find()) {
System.out.println(matcher.group());
}
Output:
Pizza
The pattern should have been
String sPattern = "(?i)\\b("+searchTerm+"(?:.+?)?)\\b";
You want to capture the whole (pizza)string.?: ensures you don't capture a part of the string twice.
Try this pattern:
String searchTerm = "Po";
String text = "Porky Pork Chop oPod zzz llPo";
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("\\p{Alpha}+" + substring + "|\\p{Alpha}+" + substring + "\\p{Alpha}+|" + substring + "\\p{Alpha}+");
Matcher m = p.matcher(myString);
while(m.find()) {
System.out.println(">> " + m.group());
}
Ok, I give you a pattern in raw style (not java style, you must double escape yourself):
(?i)\b[a-z]*po[a-z]*\b
And that's all.