How to use regular expressions to remove some html tags from string in java

Question

I wrote a code to read news from XML file (Feed) .. and I have to display the description of each item in my list view ... and I used this peas of code to remove the html tags exists inside the description tag :

else if ("description".equals(tagName)){
                             sourcedescription= parser.nextText();
                             description=Html.fromHtml(sourcedescription).toString();
                             Log.d("msg", description);
                             feedDescription.add(description);

                         }

some items I succeeded to display its description without tags i.e. in an understood manner , BUT I failed to remove all tags for some other items which have {iframe} {/iframe} tag ... and I think this tag exists in the description tags of the items which have "no description"

<description><![CDATA[<p>{iframe height="600"}<a href="http://admreg.yu.edu.jo/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=606:------20132014&catid=87:2011-01-25-18-12-08&Itemid=438">http://admreg.yu.edu.jo/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=606:------20132014&catid=87:2011-01-25-18-12-08&Itemid=438</a><span style="line-height: 1.3em;">{/iframe}</span></p>]]></description>

My question is how to remove the iframe tag by using regular expressions ?

Why regex? Why not use a proper tool for the job, like XPath? — user207421
– user207421, Commented Aug 25, 2013 at 8:24

moliware · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-25 09:39:41Z

2

A posible solution would be

    String regexp = "\\{/?iframe.*?\\}";
    String text = "<description><![CDATA[<p>{iframe height=\"600\"}<a href=\"http://admreg.yu.edu.jo/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=606:------20132014&catid=87:2011-01-25-18-12-08&Itemid=438\">http://admreg.yu.edu.jo/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=606:------20132014&catid=87:2011-01-25-18-12-08&Itemid=438</a><span style=\"line-height: 1.3em;\">{/iframe}</span></p>]]></description>";
    System.out.println(text.replaceAll(regexp, ""));

If you want to remove the content inside the tag iframe, use this regexp instead:

text.replaceAll("\\{iframe .*?\\}.*?\\{/iframe\\}", "")

edited Aug 25, 2013 at 9:39

answered Aug 25, 2013 at 8:14

moliware

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Comments

fabien · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-25 08:15:37Z

2

Use these regex:

\{iframe[^\}]*\}   // to delete the opening tag
\{/iframe[^\}]*\}  // to delete the closing tag

These regex won't delete what is in the iframe.

answered Aug 25, 2013 at 8:15

fabien

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Comments

hwnd · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-29 01:18:09Z

1

Note: Use a parser if you have the option. That said...for a quick and dirty..

str.replaceAll("\\{/?iframe.*?\\}", "");

To remove the content between these tags.

str.replaceAll("\\{iframe.*?\\}.*?\\{/iframe\\}", "")

edited Aug 29, 2014 at 1:18

answered Aug 25, 2013 at 9:01

hwnd

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2 Comments

Akari Over a year ago

Ok this work .. thanks :) ,, But what inside this tag still appeared : admreg.yu.edu.jo/…

Akari Over a year ago

I mean the content of <a href =" ... "> </a> which is the value of href !!

Display Name · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-25 08:27:45Z

0

HTML is not a regular language. Don't use RegEx with it, or you'll die.

answered Aug 25, 2013 at 8:27

Display Name

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3 Comments

Display Name Over a year ago

Ok, I'll try not doing it any more.

Sameer Sawla Over a year ago

LOL this was a funny comment!!

Display Name Over a year ago

@SameerSawla this is an answer to a deleted comment

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