Java split() regular expression

Question

I like to split a string into an array by using the split(regex) function.

I want to split it on semicolons ; - but there are also "escaped" semicolons in the String (\;) which should not be used for the split.

Is there a regex for the .split(regex) function that would do this?

Rohit Jain · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-09 10:30:47Z

6

Use negative look-behind to split on semi-colon not preceded by \\: -

str.split("(?<!\\\\);");

You need to use 4 backslashes - escape a backslash once for Java, and then escape the 2 backslashes again for regex.

answered Feb 9, 2013 at 10:30

Rohit Jain

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