java regular expression find a string add it to array and then replace original

Question

I have a string of text like this:

This is a[WAIT] test.

What I want to do is search the string for a substring that starts with [ and ends with ] Each one I find I want to add it to an ArrayList and replace substring in original string with a ^

Here is my regex:

String regex_script = "/^\\[\\]$/"; //Match a string which starts with the character [ ending in the character ]

Here is what I have so far:

StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();

Pattern p = Pattern.compile(regex_script); // Create a pattern to match
Matcher m = p.matcher(line);  // Create a matcher with an input string
boolean result = m.find();
        while(result) {
                m.appendReplacement(sb, "^");
                result = m.find();
        }
        m.appendTail(sb); // Add the last segment of input to the new String

how would I got about doing this? Thanks

ouotuo · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-14 15:20:00Z

2

you can do:

    String regex_script = "\\[([^\\]]*)\\]";

    String line = "This is a[WAIT] testThis is a[WAIT] test";
    StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
    List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();   //use to record

    Pattern p = Pattern.compile(regex_script); // Create a pattern to match
    Matcher m = p.matcher(line); // Create a matcher with an input string

    while (m.find()) {
        list.add(m.group(1));
        m.appendReplacement(sb, "[^]");
    }
    m.appendTail(sb); // Add the last segment of input to the new String

    System.out.println(sb.toString());

answered Sep 14, 2011 at 15:20

ouotuo

643 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

GideonKain Over a year ago

worked great! THANKS - the issue was not being familiar with how certain escape sequences affected the pattern.

Donovan Tan Over a year ago

@ouotuo Hi, can you take a look at this question? stackoverflow.com/questions/34938232/…

Aziz · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-14 15:09:29Z

-1

If you are searching a substring, don't use ^ and $. Those are for beginning and at end at a string (not a word) Try:

String regex_script = "/\[.*\]/";

answered Sep 14, 2011 at 15:09

Aziz

7772 gold badges7 silver badges12 bronze badges

1 Comment

Bart Kiers Over a year ago

No, inside a String literal in Java, a backslash would need to be escaped again, and Java's regex-es are not delimited with a char like /.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

java regular expression find a string add it to array and then replace original

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related