Regular expression to split string based on pattern

Question

I would like someone to help me to rectify my regular expression to split this string:

{constraint.null.invalid}{0,1,2}

Basically, I want anything inside { and }, so my output must be:

constraint.null.invalid
0,1,2.

My regular expression, which I've tried closely is:

\{([\S]+)\}

But the value I get is:

constraint.null.invalid}{0,1,2

What am I missing?

Sample code:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("\\{([\\S]+)\\}", Pattern.MULTILINE);
    String test = "{constraint.null.invalid}{0,1,2}";
    Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(test);
    while (matcher.find()) {
        System.out.println(matcher.group(1));
    }
}

Thanks

PS: The string can contain values bounded by 1 or more { and }.

user647772 · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-30 13:51:40Z

4

The + quantifier is greedy. Use +? for the reluctant version.

See http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/regex/quant.html for details.

answered Jul 30, 2012 at 13:51

user647772

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bpgergo · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-30 14:02:57Z

2

a little different approach, with this pattern "\{([^\{\}]*)\}"

import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;

public class ReTest {

    /**
     * @param args
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String s = "bla bla {constraint.null.invalid} bla bla bla {0,1,2} bla bla";
        Pattern p = Pattern.compile("\\{([^\\{\\}]*)\\}");

        Matcher m = p.matcher(s);

        while (m.find()){
            System.out.println(m.group(1));
        }
    }
}

answered Jul 30, 2012 at 14:02

bpgergo

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