Regex to find key->value in string

Question

I have a string I need to get array (2 - dim) of key->value pairs.

A "match" is when there is a -> between 2 words, mo spaces before and after ->

For example input string:

skip_me key1->value1 key2->value2 skip_me_2 key3->value3 skip_me_3 skip_me -> also

The result should be array:
key1,value1
key2,value2
key3,value3

This is my code:

Pattern p = Pattern.compile( "\\s*([^(->)]+)->([^(->)]+)\\s*" );
Matcher m = p.matcher("skip_me key1->value1 key2->value2 skip_me_2 key3->value3 skip_me_3");
while( m.find() ) {
  System.out.println( "Key:" + m.group(1) + "Value:" + m.group(2) );
}

My regex is wrong. Please assist.

agent-j · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-05 14:12:49Z

2

Matches word characters (letters, digits, and underscore _)... as many as it can

Pattern.compile( "(\w+)->(\w+)" );

answered Jun 5, 2012 at 14:12

agent-j

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2 Comments

nhahtdh Over a year ago

Good if the key and value doesn't have space between them.

Alexander Pavlov Over a year ago

Best option if keys cannot contain dashes.

Alexander Pavlov · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-05 14:12:29Z

1

Try

Pattern p = Pattern.compile("([^\s]+?)->([^\s]+)");

(did not test in Java).

answered Jun 5, 2012 at 14:12

Alexander Pavlov

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1 Comment

Gustav Karlsson Over a year ago

^\s can be replaced by \S, and the square brackets are not needed. This leaves you with the much shorter "(\S+?)->(\S+)" :)

phynfo · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-05 14:13:34Z

0

The Part [^(->)]* of your regexp definitely is not what you want. It matches a sequence of characters, not containing any of the characters (, -, > and ).

answered Jun 5, 2012 at 14:13

phynfo

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1 Comment

kenny Over a year ago

I need this one to avoid ->->->

Wirone · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-05 14:29:34Z

0

I think you might use:

Pattern.compile( "\\s*(([^\\s]+)(?=->))->((?<=->)([^\\s]+))\\s*" );

It uses positive lookahead and positive lookbehind to match everything before and after ->.

Not tested in Java, only in Eclipse Regex Util based on your sample string.

answered Jun 5, 2012 at 14:29

Wirone

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