How to escape the regex when splitting an String array

Question

I'm looking for a simpler solution. I'm new to Java and I need a little help. I'm trying to split String to String[] by this '],['. The problem is that Java tries to get these like a Regex and I don't want to use it because I'm not good enough in it. I want just to split the string by these 3 characters "],["; Here is my code:

String usefulData = ...;
String[] list = null;
String token = "],[";
list = usefulData.split(token);

And here is the error ouput: Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException: Unclosed character class near index 2 ],[... Please, any suggestions how to make this think works?

PS. Is there any other way to split the String? I don't like this Regex very much. I have been used Qt and C# and in both places there is a way to escape from this Regular Expresions. Thanks a lot People!

I assume you're parsing something like [a],[b]? In this case the split out result would look like ["[a", "b]"]. Is this what you want? — sjr
– sjr, Commented Oct 15, 2012 at 20:45
@DonAngelo. Remember to accept one of the answers, by clicking the arrow besides each answer.. — Rohit Jain
– Rohit Jain, Commented Oct 15, 2012 at 21:09

Nathan Villaescusa · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-15 20:53:12Z

5

You want "\]\,\[".

String usefulData = ...;
String[] list = usefulData.split("\\],\\[");

This is because [ and ] are special characters in a RegEx. You have to escape them with \\ to use them as regular characters.

edited Oct 15, 2012 at 20:53

answered Oct 15, 2012 at 20:43

Nathan Villaescusa

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Rohit Jain · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-17 21:53:27Z

4

You can build your String using Pattern#quote method.

That way you won't have to escape your special characters with a backslash. Pattern.quote makes all your special characters in string behave like String literal: -

String usefulData = "[a],[b],[c,d]";
String token = Pattern.quote("],[");
String[] list = usefulData.split(token);

for (String val: list) {
    System.out.println(val.replaceAll("\\[|\\]", ""));
}

OUTPUT: -

a
b
c,d

edited Oct 17, 2012 at 21:53

answered Oct 15, 2012 at 20:46

Rohit Jain

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4 Comments

LanguagesNamedAfterCofee Over a year ago

Thanks for sharing this, I've always escaped myself.

Rohit Jain Over a year ago

@LanguagesNamedAfterCofee Lol. :) Now you don't have to. Just quote yourself when needed ;)

Rohit Jain Over a year ago

@DonAngeloAnnoni.. Hello Don. You can try out my updated code. I have added code to remove [ and ] from start and end.

Rohit Jain Over a year ago

@DonAngeloAnnoni.. Using Regex for this kind of work is far better than using substring, while loop and all that stuff that is in the answer you marked.

Ωmega · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-15 20:48:02Z

2

String usefulData = ...;
String[] list = null;
String token = "],[";
list = usefulData.split(java.util.regex.Pattern.quote(token));

answered Oct 15, 2012 at 20:48

Ωmega

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