Regex for Reversing Last Name, First Name?

[James Dekker]

Hi there,

Suppose I have a String which is similar to this:

String name = "Smith, John";

How can I use a regex to turn it into:

String fullName = "John Smith";

Sincerely,

James

[Ulf Dittmer]

The search string for would be something like "(.*), (.*)", and the replacement string would be something like "\\2 \\1". The exact syntax depends on the regex package you're using, but that's the general idea. You may have to escape the parentheses with backslashes, and probably want to make the search string more selective (and guard against several commas).

[James Dekker]

Ulf,

Thanks for replying!

I am fairly new to Java Regex. Am using the one which comes with JDK 1.5.

Don't really understand some of your tips, being a Java Regex newbie ...

This is what I have so far:

String personName = nameField.getText().trim();
String regex = "(.*), (.*)";
Pattern p1 = Pattern.compile(regex);
Matcher m1 = p1.matcher(personName);

How does one suggest reversing "Smith, Joe" to "Joe Smith", and also what if someone puts a middle name, e.g.: "Smith, Joe E.", so it would become "Joe E. Smith"?

Sincerely,

James

[Henry Wong]

You don't actually have to use the regex engine directly... you could just use the string regex convenience methods. Try...

String personName = "Smith, John E.";
personName = personName.replaceFirst("(.*), (.*)", "$2 $1");

Henry

[James Dekker]

Thanks Henry!

That explains it!

Cheers,

James