Reg Ex question

[Stijn Janssens]

I want to parse a String using reg ex.

This is my code:

    
String[] s = "[dfdsfdf][dsfsdfs][sdfsdfsdf][sdf546456][][17/06/1966][sticn0000000132][5464646][False][09/08/2008][][03/09/2008 00:59:26][][][][00:00:00][][VOD20AS5QE2D86P][0]".split("\\[*[^\\]]\\]");
for(int i = 0; i < s.length ; i++){
System.out.println("s["+i+"]: " + s[i]);
}

I want an array of all the strings between [ and ] (so {"dfdsfdf","dsfsdfs", "sdfsdfsdf", "sdf546456", "17/06/1966", ...}).

But I get:

   
s[0]: [dfdsfd
s[1]: [dsfsdf
s[2]: [sdfsdfsd
s[3]: [sdf54645
s[4]: 
s[5]: [17/06/196
s[6]: [sticn000000013
s[7]: [546464
s[8]: [Fals
s[9]: [09/08/200
s[10]: 
s[11]: [03/09/2008 00:59:2
s[12]: 
s[13]: 
s[14]: 
s[15]: [00:00:0
s[16]: 
s[17]: [VOD20AS5QE2D86

Anyone who knows the answer?

[Henry Wong]

The split() method uses a regex to specify the delimiter -- not what you are looking for. So, if what you are looking for is neatly separated by delimters, then it will work.

I recommend that you uses the find() method, in a loop. And use regex groups to extract the items in the brackets.

Henry

[Henry Wong]

But to answer why you are getting what you are getting... The delimiter is...

 ....split("\\[*[^\\]]\\]");   

\\[* -- Zero or more occurances of the open square brace.
[^\\]] -- One character that is *not* a close brace.
\\] -- One character that is a close brace.

In most cases, the first part is zero characters. And the second and third part, uses one close brace, and one letter before it, as a delimiters. This is why most of your items are merely missing the close brace, and one letter before it.

Henry

[Stijn Janssens]

Thanks Henri,

I modified my code and now it works

 
java.util.regex.Pattern pattern = java.util.regex.Pattern.compile("\\[([^\\]]*)\\]");
java.util.regex.Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher("[dfdsfdf][dsfsdfs][sdfsdfsdf][sdf546456][][17/06/1966][sticn0000000132][5464646][False][09/08/2008][][03/09/2008 00:59:26][][][][00:00:00][][VOD20AS5QE2D86P][0]");
java.util.List<String> found = new java.util.ArrayList<String>();
while(matcher.find()) {
found.add(matcher.group());
}
int i = 0;
for(String printStr : found){
System.out.println("s["+(i++)+"]: " + printStr);
}   

[Ken Truitt]

The best you could do with split() is split on " " and get an array of all
your items but with the enclosing brackets as well. Use the Scanner object
to do it.