Finding right regex pattern

Question

So let's say I have an array of Strings of the following type

something **foo**garblesomething somethingelse
something **foobar**blahblah somethingelse
and so on

So essentially data are triples

Now, in the middle part of the string

Notice keywords "foo" and "foobar"

What I want to do is:

if "foo" in string:
    return 1
else if "foobar" in string:
    return 2
else -1

How do I do this in Java?

A less contrived example might help - for example to solve this exact problem you could just search for "foobar" first, and if it isn't found, search for "foo". — Rob I
– Rob I, Commented Aug 22, 2013 at 19:08
The specific method to use would be contains(). There's no reason to use a regex. — Eric Stein
– Eric Stein, Commented Aug 22, 2013 at 19:09
There is absolutely no need for a regex in this situation. Opting to use a regex will do nothing but make your code less efficient and more difficult to maintain. — jahroy
– jahroy, Commented Aug 22, 2013 at 19:15

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-22 19:12:27Z

8

Just use String#contains(String)

if (str.contains("foobar"))
    return 2;
else if (str.contains("foo"))
    return 1;
else
    return -1;

Important to check for foobar before foo otherwise it will return 1 for both cases.

answered Aug 22, 2013 at 19:12

anubhava

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