Java Regex Unclosed character class (PatternSyntaxException)

Question

I am having trouble compiling a regex. I cant find what the problem is with this expression as I got it from Cisco documentation and I don't understand why it does not work. I'm hoping that somebody could tell me what is wrong with it. This is what I am trying to do:

public void test(){
    try{
        pattern.compile("^[]0-9*#X[^-]{1,50}$");
        System.out.println("Syntax is ok");
    } catch (PatternSyntaxException e) {
        System.out.println(e.getDescription());
    }
}

At the start of the pattern is []. Are you wanting to search for those literal characters? I.e. an open square bracket and a close square bracket? If so, you'll need to escape them: \\[\\]. — Duncan Jones
– Duncan Jones, Commented Jun 20, 2013 at 14:59
There are many ways to fix the pattern. But we don't know what you are trying to match, so any answer would be just a guess. — jlordo
– jlordo, Commented Jun 20, 2013 at 15:00
I've voted to close as too localized. It's not clear what the original question was seeking, so I'm not sure the answer is useful for anyone other than the OP. — Duncan Jones
– Duncan Jones, Commented Jun 21, 2013 at 7:47

BackSlash · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-20 14:57:04Z

1

This:

^[]0-9*#X[^-]{1,50}$

Doesn't work, you have to replace []0-9 with [0-9]:

^[0-9]*#X[^-]{1,50}$

UPDATE

As Duncan Jones says, maybe you wanted to match [] at the beginning of the string. In this case, you regex has to become

^\[\]0-9*#X[^-]{1,50}$

So:

pattern.compile("^\\[\\]0-9*#X[^-]{1,50}$");

answered Jun 20, 2013 at 14:57

BackSlash

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2 Comments

Duncan Jones Over a year ago

That certainly removes the error. I guess the OP can confirm whether this is what was desired. For example, this would also remove the error: "^\\[\\]0-9*#X[^-]{1,50}$".

laitha0 Over a year ago

Thanks a lot guys, escaping the [ and ] I did not know they are considered as special characters. I am trying to match a phone number and I got the regex from Cisco data Dictionary (cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/datadict/9_1_1/…) in case you are curious about what is it for.

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