Regular expression

[Marilyn Monickam]

Hi
Using the javax.util regex package' Pattern matcher is it possible to write a Pattern to check if a string does not contain two or more consecutive hyphens or spaces
Thanks
Marilyn

[Jim Yingst]

Yeah - but it seems much easier to check if it does contain two consecutive hyphens or spaces, and interpret the result of find() accordingly.

    Pattern p = Pattern.compile("  |--");
    Matcher m = p.matcher(input);
    if (m.find() == false)
      System.out.println("String has no two consecutive spaces or hyphens");

[Marilyn Monickam]

Thanks Jim
Is there a method available that can return the pattern if I give a string?

Marilyn

[Jim Yingst]

Um, in one sense, that's what Pattern.compile() does - creates Pattern object based on an input string which represents that pattern. But I don't know if that's what you mean. If you mean, is there a method that will tell me to use " |--" in this situation, then no, not really. You have to read the documentation for the java.util.regex.Pattern class. And/or spend time with a good book like O'Reilly's Mastering Regular Expressions. Or just practice a lot.

[Marilyn Monickam]

Its the second thing I wanted to know "if there is a method that will tell me to use " |--" in this situation ". Will have to try a lot of combinations now :-)