split() method in String API

[Amirtharaj Chinnaraj]

hi guys
this is my main method code

 
         String te="qwer|qweqwe";
String two[]= te.split("|");
for(int i=0;i<two.length;i++)
{
System.out.println(" it "+two[i]);
}
   

the output is

  it 
 it q
 it w
 it e
 it r
 it |
 it q
 it w
 it e
 it q
 it w
 it e   

if i replace the my main method code with this

  
String te="qwer,qweqwe";
String two[]= te.split(",");
for(int i=0;i<two.length;i++)
{
System.out.println(" it "+two[i]);
}
  

my output looks like

   it qwer
 it qweqwe
  

my Question is why split method is not functioning propery with String two[]= te.split("|");
looking for your replies

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

The argument to split is a regular expression; a kind of pattern to match against. "|" is a special character in regular expressions. To use it as a plain character, you must escape it with a backslash; to make sure the regular expression parser sees the backslash, you must double it. So the proper syntax is going to be:

String two[]= te.split("\\|");

[Amirtharaj Chinnaraj]

thanks for your reply Ernest
but my doubt still exist

  String te="qwer.qweqwe";
String two[]= te.split(",");
for(int i=0;i<two.length;i++)
{
System.out.println(" it "+two[i]);
}
  

in the above case my split pattern dosent match in the string te

  
String te="qwer|qweqwe";
String two[]= te.split("|");
for(int i=0;i<two.length;i++)
{
System.out.println(" it "+two[i]);
}

  

but in the above even though the split pattern dosent match why the characters are splited and return as an array

looking for your replies
amir

[Jesper de Jong]

I still see this line in your code:

String two[]= te.split("|");

instead of what Ernest suggested:

String two[]= te.split("\\|");

Did you try this?

[Joanne Neal]

Originally posted by Amirtharaj Chinnaraj:

  
String te="qwer|qweqwe";
String two[]= te.split("|");
for(int i=0;i<two.length;i++)
{
System.out.println(" it "+two[i]);
}

  

but in the above even though the split pattern dosent match why the characters are splited and return as an array

The | is a special character in regular expressions that means match either the part on the left side or the part on the right side of the |. As you don't have anything on either the left or right of the |, I presume (I'm not a RE expert) it is interpreted as meaning match anything, so you get back an array with each element being a single character string.

[Campbell Ritchie]

Originally posted by Joanne Neal:


The | is a special character in regular expressions that means match either the part on the left side or the part on the right side of the |. As you don't have anything on either the left or right of the |, I presume (I'm not a RE expert) it is interpreted as meaning match anything, so you get back an array with each element being a single character string.

More likely it is interpreted as "match nothing or nothing". You get a "nothing" after every letter, so it matches that and then goes to the next letter. That is why it splits the String into individual single letters.