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Java Pattern REGEX Where Not Matching

I'm trying to use the Java Pattern and Matcher to apply input checks. I have it working in a really basic format which I am happy with so far. It applies a REGEX to an argument and then loops through the matching characters.
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
import java.util.regex.Matcher;
public class RegexUtil {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String argument;
Pattern pattern;
Matcher matcher;
argument = "#a1^b2";
pattern = Pattern.compile("[a-zA-Z]|[0-9]|\\s");
matcher = pattern.matcher(argument);
// find all matching characters
while(matcher.find()) {
System.out.println(matcher.group());
}
}
}
This is fine for extracting all the good characters, I get the output
a
1
b
2
Now I wanted to know if it's possible to do the same for any characters that don't match the REGEX so I get the output
#
^
Or better yet loop through it and get TRUE or FALSE flags for each index of the argument
false
true
true
false
true
true
I only know how to loop through with matcher.find(), any help would be greatly appreciated

You may add a |(.) alternative to your pattern (to match any char but a line break char) and check if Group 1 matched upon each match. If yes, output false, else, output true:
String argument = "#a1^b2";
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("[a-zA-Z]|[0-9]|\\s|(.)"); // or "[a-zA-Z0-9\\s]|(.)"
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(argument);
while(matcher.find()) { // find all matching characters
System.out.println(matcher.group(1) == null);
See the Java demo, output:
false
true
true
false
true
true
Note you do not need to use a Pattern.DOTALL here, because \s in your "whitelist" part of the pattern matches line breaks.

Why not simply removing all matching chars from your string, so you get only the non matching ones back:
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
import java.util.regex.Matcher;
public class RegexUtil {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String argument;
Pattern pattern;
Matcher matcher;
argument = "#a1^b2";
pattern = Pattern.compile("[a-zA-Z]|[0-9]|\\s");
matcher = pattern.matcher(argument);
// find all matching characters
while(matcher.find()) {
System.out.println(matcher.group());
argument = argument.replace(matcher.group(), "");
}
System.out.println("argument: " + argument);
}
}

You have to iterate over each char of the String and check one by one :
//for-each loop, shorter way
for (char c : argument.toCharArray()){
System.out.println(pattern.matcher(c + "").matches());
}
or
//classic for-i loop, with details
for (int i = 0; i < argument.length(); i++) {
String charAtI = argument.charAt(i) + "";
boolean doesMatch = pattern.matcher(charAtI).matches();
System.out.println(doesMatch);
}
Also, when you don't require it, you can do declaration and give a value at same time :
String argument = "#a1^b2";
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("[a-zA-Z]|[0-9]|\\s");

Track positions, and for each match, print the characters between last match and current match.
int pos = 0;
while (matcher.find()) {
for (int i = pos; i < matcher.start(); i++) {
System.out.println(argument.charAt(i));
}
pos = matcher.end();
}
// Print any trailing characters after last match.
for (int i = pos; i < argument.length(); i++) {
System.out.println(argument.charAt(i));
}

One solution is
String argument;
Pattern pattern;
Matcher matcher;
argument = "#a1^b2";
List<String> charList = Arrays.asList(argument.split(""));
pattern = Pattern.compile("[a-zA-Z]|[0-9]|\\s");
matcher = pattern.matcher(argument);
ArrayList<String> unmatchedCharList = new ArrayList<>();
// find all matching
while(matcher.find()) {
unmatchedCharList.add(matcher.group());
}
for(String charr : charList)
{
System.out.println(unmatchedCharList.contains(charr ));
}
Output
false
true
true
false
true
true

Reject String If Contains Any Non-Alpha Numeric Character

I am writing a program and want the program to not loop and request another search pattern if the search pattern (word) contains any non alpha numeric characters.
I have setup a Boolean word to false and an if statement to change the Boolean to true if the word contains letters or numbers. Then another if statement to allow the program to execute if the Boolean is true.
My logic must be off because it is still executing through the search pattern if I simply enter "/". The search pattern cannot contain any non alpha numeric characters to include spaces. I am trying to use Regex to solve this problem.
Sample problematic output:
Please enter a search pattern: /
Line number 1
this.a 2test/austin
^
Line number 8
ra charity Charityis 4 times a day/a.a-A
^
Here is my applicable code:
while (again) {
boolean found = false;
System.out.printf("%n%s", "Please enter a search pattern: ", "%n");
String wordToSearch = input.next();
if (wordToSearch.equals("EINPUT")) {
System.out.printf("%s", "Bye!");
System.exit(0);
}
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("\\W*");
Matcher m = p.matcher(wordToSearch);
if (m.find())
found = true;
String data;
int lineCount = 1;
if (found = true) {
try (FileInputStream fis =
new FileInputStream(this.inputPath.getPath())) {
File file1 = this.inputPath;
byte[] buffer2 = new byte[fis.available()];
fis.read(buffer2);
data = new String(buffer2);
Scanner in = new Scanner(data).useDelimiter("\\\\|[^a-zA-z0-9]+");
while (in.hasNextLine()) {
String line = in.nextLine();
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("\\b" + wordToSearch + "\\b");
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(line);
if (matcher.find()) {
System.out.println("Line number " + lineCount);
String stringToFile = f.findWords(line, wordToSearch);
System.out.println();
}
lineCount++;
}
}
}
}

Stop reinventing the wheel.
Read this: Apache StringUtils,
Focus on isAlpha,
isAlphanumeric,
and isAlphanumericSpace
One of those is likely to provide the functionality you want.

Create a separate method to call the String you are searching through:
public boolean isAlphanumeric(String str)
{
char[] charArray = str.toCharArray();
for(char c:charArray)
{
if (!Character.isLetterOrDigit(c))
return false;
}
return true;
}
Then, add the following if statement to the above code prior to the second try statement.
if (isAlphanumeric(wordToSearch) == true)

Well since no one posted REGEX one, here you go:
package com.company;
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String x = "ABCDEF123456";
String y = "ABC$DEF123456";
isValid(x);
isValid(y);
}
public static void isValid(String s){
if (s.matches("[A-Za-z0-9]*"))
System.out.println("String doesn't contain non alphanumeric characters !");
else
System.out.println("Invalid characters in string !");
}
}

Right now, what's happening is if the search pattern contains non alphanumeric characters, then do the loop. This is because found = true when the non alphanumeric characters are detected.
if(m.find())
found = true;
What it should be:
if(!m.find())
found = true;
It should be checking for the absence of nonalphanumeric characters.
Also, the boolean flag can just be simplified to:
boolean found = !m.find();
You don't need to use the if statement.

How to return the first chunk of either numerics or letters from a string?

For example, if I had (-> means return):
aBc123afa5 -> aBc
168dgFF9g -> 168
1GGGGG -> 1
How can I do this in Java? I assume it's something regex related but I'm not great with regex and so not too sure how to implement it (I could with some thought but I have a feeling it would be 5-10 lines long, and I think this could be done in a one-liner).
Thanks

String myString = "aBc123afa5";
String extracted = myString.replaceAll("^([A-Za-z]+|\\d+).*$", "$1");
View the regex demo and the live code demonstration!
To use Matcher.group() and reuse a Pattern for efficiency:
// Class
private static final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("^([A-Za-z]+|\\d+).*$");
// Your method
{
String myString = "aBc123afa5";
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(myString);
if(matcher.matches())
System.out.println(matcher.group(1));
}
Note: /^([A-Za-z]+|\d+).*$ and /^([A-Za-z]+|\d+)/ both works in similar efficiency. On regex101 you can compare the matcher debug logs to find out this.

Without using regex, you can do this:
String string = "168dgFF9g";
String chunk = "" + string.charAt(0);
boolean searchDigit = Character.isDigit(string.charAt(0));
for (int i = 1; i < string.length(); i++) {
boolean isDigit = Character.isDigit(string.charAt(i));
if (isDigit == searchDigit) {
chunk += string.charAt(i);
} else {
break;
}
}
System.out.println(chunk);

public static String prefix(String s) {
return s.replaceFirst("^(\\d+|\\pL+|).*$", "$1");
}
where
\\d = digit
\\pL = letter
postfix + = one or more
| = or
^ = begin of string
$ = end of string
$1 = first group `( ... )`
An empty alternative (last |) ensures that (...) is always matched, and always a replace happens. Otherwise the original string would be returned.

Why isn't this lookahead assertion working in Java?

I come from a Perl background and am used to doing something like the following to match leading digits in a string and perform an in-place increment by one:
my $string = '0_Beginning';
$string =~ s|^(\d+)(?=_.*)|$1+1|e;
print $string; # '1_Beginning'
With my limited knowledge of Java, things aren't so succinct:
String string = "0_Beginning";
Pattern p = Pattern.compile( "^(\\d+)(?=_.*)" );
String digit = string.replaceFirst( p.toString(), "$1" ); // To get the digit
Integer oneMore = Integer.parseInt( digit ) + 1; // Evaluate ++digit
string.replaceFirst( p.toString(), oneMore.toString() ); //
The regex doesn't match here... but it did in Perl.
What am I doing wrong here?

Actually it matches. You can find out by printing
System.out.println(p.matcher(string).find());
The issue is with line
String digit = string.replaceFirst( p.toString(), "$1" );
which is actually a do-nothing, because it replaces the first group (which is all you match, the lookahead is not part of the match) with the content of the first group.
You can get the desired result (namely the digit) via the following code
Matcher m = p.matcher(string);
String digit = m.find() ? m.group(1) : "";
Note: you should check m.find() anyways if nothing matches. In this case you may not call parseInt and you'll get an error. Thus the full code looks something like
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("^(\\d+)(?=_.*)");
String string = "0_Beginning";
Matcher m = p.matcher(string);
if (m.find()) {
String digit = m.group(1);
Integer oneMore = Integer.parseInt(digit) + 1;
string = m.replaceAll(oneMore.toString());
System.out.println(string);
} else {
System.out.println("No match");
}

Let's see what you are doing here.
String string = "0_Beginning";
Pattern p = Pattern.compile( "^(\\d+)(?=_.*)" );
You declare and initialize String and pattern objects.
String digit = string.replaceFirst( p.toString(), "$1" ); // To get the digit
(You are converting the pattern back into a string, and replaceFirst creates a new Pattern from this. Is this intentional?)
As Howard says, this replaces the first match of the pattern in the string with the contents of the first group, and the match of the pattern is just 0 here, as the first group. Thus digit is equal to string, ...
Integer oneMore = Integer.parseInt( digit ) + 1; // Evaluate ++digit
... and your parsing fails here.
string.replaceFirst( p.toString(), oneMore.toString() ); //
This would work (but convert the pattern again to string and back to pattern).
Here how I would do this:
String string = "0_Beginning";
Pattern p = Pattern.compile( "^(\\d+)(?=_.*)" );
Matcher matcher = p.matcher(string);
StringBuffer result = new StringBuffer();
while(matcher.find()) {
int number = Integer.parseInt(matcher.group());
m.appendReplacement(result, String.valueOf(number + 1));
}
m.appendTail(result);
return result.toString(); // 1_Beginning
(Of course, for your regex the loop will only execute once, since the regex is anchored.)
Edit: To clarify my statement about string.replaceFirst:
This method does not return a pattern, but uses one internally. From the documentation:
Replaces the first substring of this string that matches the given regular expression with the given replacement.
An invocation of this method of the form str.replaceFirst(regex, repl) yields exactly the same result as the expression
Pattern.compile(regex).matcher(str).replaceFirst(repl)
Here we see that a new pattern is compiled from the first argument.
This also shows us another way to do what you did want to do:
String string = "0_Beginning";
Pattern p = Pattern.compile( "^(\\d+)(?=_.*)" );
Matcher m = p.matcher(string);
if(m.find()) {
digit = m.group();
int oneMore = Integer.parseInt( digit ) + 1
return m.replaceFirst(string, String.valueOf(oneMore));
}
This only compiles the pattern once, instead of thrice like in your original program - but still does the matching twice (once for find, once for replaceFirst), instead of once like in my program.

Check if a String contains a special character

How do you check if a String contains a special character like:
[,],{,},{,),*,|,:,>,

Pattern p = Pattern.compile("[^a-z0-9 ]", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
Matcher m = p.matcher("I am a string");
boolean b = m.find();
if (b)
System.out.println("There is a special character in my string");

If you want to have LETTERS, SPECIAL CHARACTERS and NUMBERS in your password with at least 8 digit, then use this code, it is working perfectly
public static boolean Password_Validation(String password)
{
if(password.length()>=8)
{
Pattern letter = Pattern.compile("[a-zA-z]");
Pattern digit = Pattern.compile("[0-9]");
Pattern special = Pattern.compile ("[!##$%&*()_+=|<>?{}\\[\\]~-]");
//Pattern eight = Pattern.compile (".{8}");
Matcher hasLetter = letter.matcher(password);
Matcher hasDigit = digit.matcher(password);
Matcher hasSpecial = special.matcher(password);
return hasLetter.find() && hasDigit.find() && hasSpecial.find();
}
else
return false;
}

You can use the following code to detect special character from string.
import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
public class DetectSpecial{
public int getSpecialCharacterCount(String s) {
if (s == null || s.trim().isEmpty()) {
System.out.println("Incorrect format of string");
return 0;
}
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("[^A-Za-z0-9]");
Matcher m = p.matcher(s);
// boolean b = m.matches();
boolean b = m.find();
if (b)
System.out.println("There is a special character in my string ");
else
System.out.println("There is no special char.");
return 0;
}
}

If it matches regex [a-zA-Z0-9 ]* then there is not special characters in it.

What do you exactly call "special character" ? If you mean something like "anything that is not alphanumeric" you can use org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils class (methods IsAlpha/IsNumeric/IsWhitespace/IsAsciiPrintable).
If it is not so trivial, you can use a regex that defines the exact character list you accept and match the string against it.

This is tested in android 7.0 up to android 10.0 and it works
Use this code to check if string contains special character and numbers:
name = firstname.getText().toString(); //name is the variable that holds the string value
Pattern special= Pattern.compile("[^a-z0-9 ]", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
Pattern number = Pattern.compile("[0-9]", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
Matcher matcher = special.matcher(name);
Matcher matcherNumber = number.matcher(name);
boolean constainsSymbols = matcher.find();
boolean containsNumber = matcherNumber.find();
if(constainsSymbols){
//string contains special symbol/character
}
else if(containsNumber){
//string contains numbers
}
else{
//string doesn't contain special characters or numbers
}

All depends on exactly what you mean by "special". In a regex you can specify
\W to mean non-alpahnumeric
\p{Punct} to mean punctuation characters
I suspect that the latter is what you mean. But if not use a [] list to specify exactly what you want.

Have a look at the java.lang.Character class. It has some test methods and you may find one that fits your needs.
Examples: Character.isSpaceChar(c) or !Character.isJavaLetter(c)

This worked for me:
String s = "string";
if (Pattern.matches("[a-zA-Z]+", s)) {
System.out.println("clear");
} else {
System.out.println("buzz");
}

First you have to exhaustively identify the special characters that you want to check.
Then you can write a regular expression and use
public boolean matches(String regex)

//without using regular expression........
String specialCharacters=" !#$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?#[]^_`{|}~0123456789";
String name="3_ saroj#";
String str2[]=name.split("");
for (int i=0;i<str2.length;i++)
{
if (specialCharacters.contains(str2[i]))
{
System.out.println("true");
//break;
}
else
System.out.println("false");
}

Pattern p = Pattern.compile("[\\p{Alpha}]*[\\p{Punct}][\\p{Alpha}]*");
Matcher m = p.matcher("Afsff%esfsf098");
boolean b = m.matches();
if (b == true)
System.out.println("There is a sp. character in my string");
else
System.out.println("There is no sp. char.");

//this is updated version of code that i posted
/*
The isValidName Method will check whether the name passed as argument should not contain-
1.null value or space
2.any special character
3.Digits (0-9)
Explanation---
Here str2 is String array variable which stores the the splited string of name that is passed as argument
The count variable will count the number of special character occurs
The method will return true if it satisfy all the condition
*/
public boolean isValidName(String name)
{
String specialCharacters=" !#$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?#[]^_`{|}~0123456789";
String str2[]=name.split("");
int count=0;
for (int i=0;i<str2.length;i++)
{
if (specialCharacters.contains(str2[i]))
{
count++;
}
}
if (name!=null && count==0 )
{
return true;
}
else
{
return false;
}
}

Visit each character in the string to see if that character is in a blacklist of special characters; this is O(n*m).
The pseudo-code is:
for each char in string:
if char in blacklist:
...
The complexity can be slightly improved by sorting the blacklist so that you can early-exit each check. However, the string find function is probably native code, so this optimisation - which would be in Java byte-code - could well be slower.

in the line String str2[]=name.split(""); give an extra character in Array...
Let me explain by example
"Aditya".split("") would return [, A, d,i,t,y,a] You will have a extra character in your Array...
The "Aditya".split("") does not work as expected by saroj routray you will get an extra character in String => [, A, d,i,t,y,a].
I have modified it,see below code it work as expected
public static boolean isValidName(String inputString) {
String specialCharacters = " !#$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?#[]^_`{|}~0123456789";
String[] strlCharactersArray = new String[inputString.length()];
for (int i = 0; i < inputString.length(); i++) {
strlCharactersArray[i] = Character
.toString(inputString.charAt(i));
}
//now strlCharactersArray[i]=[A, d, i, t, y, a]
int count = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < strlCharactersArray.length; i++) {
if (specialCharacters.contains( strlCharactersArray[i])) {
count++;
}
}
if (inputString != null && count == 0) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
}

Convert the string into char array with all the letters in lower case:
char c[] = str.toLowerCase().toCharArray();
Then you can use Character.isLetterOrDigit(c[index]) to find out which index has special characters.

Use java.util.regex.Pattern class's static method matches(regex, String obj)
regex : characters in lower and upper case & digits between 0-9
String obj : String object you want to check either it contain special character or not.
It returns boolean value true if only contain characters and numbers, otherwise returns boolean value false
Example.
String isin = "12GBIU34RT12";<br>
if(Pattern.matches("[a-zA-Z0-9]+", isin)<br>{<br>
System.out.println("Valid isin");<br>
}else{<br>
System.out.println("Invalid isin");<br>
}