How to replace a particular string in java?

Question

I have a CSV file like

Data
Dun&BradStreet
Dunkin & Donut

Here Data is the 'header' of the column.

I am using the encoding and replacement as

 String encodedUrl = URLEncoder.encode(data[i], "UTF-8");
 String data = encodedUrl.replaceAll("%2B","+");

Desired Result

Data
Dun&BradStreet
Dunkin+%26+Donut

Output

 Data
 Dun%26BradStreet
 Dunkin+%26+Donut

How to keep '&' if there are no spaces when '&' is present? Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Are you going to put this information in a URL? If so, the & should be encoded per ietf.org/rfc/rfc1738.txt unless you are using it in a special way (like separating name-value pairs). If you are not putting it in a URL, why are you using URLEncoder.encode on it? — lreeder
– lreeder, Commented Apr 6, 2014 at 4:34
@lreeder : Yes I am going to put in an URL. So that is why I need to know how to do the encoding without replacing '&' as in the first case? I appreciate any help. — user3188390
– user3188390, Commented Apr 6, 2014 at 4:51
if you want to put the first value also in the URL it also needs to be encoded. — sidgate
– sidgate, Commented Apr 6, 2014 at 4:53

Braj · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-06 12:40:09Z

1

You can try this one if there are one or more times spaces before and after &.

here \\s+ represents one or more times spaces. Read more about Java Regex Pattern.

String str = data[i].replaceAll("\\s+&\\s+", "+%26+");

answered Apr 6, 2014 at 12:40

Braj

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Comments

Alan Moore · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-06 14:36:02Z

1

You can do it with replace() like so,

String in = "Data\nDun&BradStreet\nDunkin & Donut";
System.out.println(in.replace(" & ", "+%26+"));

Output is "Desired Result" -

Data
Dun&BradStreet
Dunkin+%26+Donut

Alan Moore

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answered Apr 6, 2014 at 4:32

Elliott Frisch

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