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Question on Regex class in K&B

 
Greenhorn
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hello friends

This is a Practice Question from K&B for java 5. I have a doubt in it.

class Regex2 {

public static void main(String [] arg) {
Pattern p = Pattern.compile(arg[0]);
Matcher m = p.matcher(arg[1]);
boolean b= false;
while(b=m.find()) {
System.out.print(m.start()+m.group());
}
}
}

and it is executed as java Regex2 "\d*" ab34ef

then the output is 01234456

I dont get why we are getting 6 in the answer.

Thanks
 
Ranch Hand
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As the regeular Expression is \d* it means or more digits

When comes to the string ab34ef the output is 01234456

Here 6 comes at the end because the expression is evaluated to true even after the 'f' which is at the end of string ab34ef
 
Rancher
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A quick search through the archive uncovers discussion of this here, here, and here.
 
Sheriff
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A new explanation has been added to the SCJP FAQ.

The key is that the asterisk (*) is a "greedy quantifier," specifying that whatever preceeds it should be matched zero or more times. By allowing for zero occurrances, a match of zero length is possible. And because a match of zero length is possible, the find() method will check the index following the last character of input.

For a match of zero length, the matcher's start() and end() methods both return the same index. And in these cases, the group() method returns an empty String (i.e., the substring from start() to end()).
 
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