string split pattern java

Question

I am trying to do a split of String array at the i th location. with a regex for 4 or more spaces.

i found a lot of information here and other sites, hence I came up with

String[] parts = titlesAuthor[i].split("    ");

so the split can happen between the title and authors name which contains either 4 or more spaces or does not exist as all.

Example:

titleAuthor[0] = Investigational drugs for autonomic dysfunction in Parkinson's disease          Perez-Lloret S

After running the above split, parts[0] is coming up as empty and part[1] has the complete string.

please help!

code :

for (int i = 0; i < nodes.getLength(); i++) { Element element = (Element) nodes.item(i); NodeList title = element.getElementsByTagName("TEXT"); line = (Element) title.item(0); titlesAuthor[i] = getCharacterDataFromElement(line); System.out.println(titlesAuthor[i]); parts = titlesAuthor[i].split(" "); System.out.println(parts[0]); System.out.println(parts[1]); }

So... we're supposed to fix your code without ever seeing the code? — user4668606
– user4668606, Commented Feb 6, 2016 at 23:53
its long with a lot of commented out stuff, should i post it all? — Shaheryar Rajper
– Shaheryar Rajper, Commented Feb 6, 2016 at 23:56
1. You're splitting a String into a String[] (array), not a String array to whatever. 2. your example doesn't even compile, you need double quotes around the string literal. 3. You're splitting with exactly 4 spaces, so if you would have 10 spaces then you would split it up like this: ["before the spaces",/*we 'ate' 2*4 spaces*/"--"] (I changed spaces with dashes to see them) — Gavriel
– Gavriel, Commented Feb 6, 2016 at 23:59
for (int i = 0; i < nodes.getLength(); i++) { Element element = (Element) nodes.item(i); NodeList title = element.getElementsByTagName("TEXT"); line = (Element) title.item(0); titlesAuthor[i] = getCharacterDataFromElement(line); System.out.println(titlesAuthor[i]); parts = titlesAuthor[i].split(" "); System.out.println(parts[0]); System.out.println(parts[1]); } — Shaheryar Rajper
– Shaheryar Rajper, Commented Feb 7, 2016 at 0:00

SomeDude · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-07 00:00:04Z

1

Use regex \s{4}

Actually 4 is the number of spaces , you can change it to whatever number you want.

See the demo

answered Feb 7, 2016 at 0:00

SomeDude

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1 Comment

Gavriel Over a year ago

this matches exactly 4 spaces, as the one in the question

Gavriel · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-08 07:42:46Z

0

To catch 4 or more spaces you need to indicate it with a +:

String[] parts = titlesAuthor[i].split("    +");

or:

String[] parts = titlesAuthor[i].split(" {4,}");

update: it looks like your xml doesn't look exactly as you think. In the code you provided add:

System.out.println(i + ":" + titlesAuthor[i] + ";");

and you'll see some spaces or new lines at the beginnng.

edited Feb 8, 2016 at 7:42

answered Feb 7, 2016 at 0:01

Gavriel

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8 Comments

Shaheryar Rajper Over a year ago

tried it, its leaving parts[0] empty and saving the title in parts[1]

Gavriel Over a year ago

I'm sorry, but can you fix the titleAuthor[0] in your question? I told you above that you need double quotes.

Shaheryar Rajper Over a year ago

its one line from xml file among 1500 other records

Gavriel Over a year ago

I'm pretty sure that the input string is not what you think it is. Unless you give us an example input in the question, that can be compiled, I can't help further I'm afraid

Shaheryar Rajper Over a year ago

yeah it was not, i used String regex = " {4,}"; parts = titlesAuthor[i].split(regex); The first element has 6 empty spaces, the second has the title and third has the author

|

Gary Y Kim · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-07 00:00:54Z

0

THIS will skip the space.. split ("\s+")

answered Feb 7, 2016 at 0:00

Gary Y Kim

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1 Comment

Gavriel Over a year ago

this matches 1,2,3 spaces as well as space,tab,space, etc :)

Floam · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-07 01:30:37Z

0

In your example, your code is splitting when it finds four consecutive spaces. The String that you are splitting above has ten consecutive spaces between:

"disease          Perez".

Thus, there is a split between the spaces. Pretend "#" is a space:

Investigational drugs for autonomic dysfunction in Parkinson's disease|SPLIT|null|SPLIT|##Perez-Lloret S

Your split will result in:

{[Investigational drugs for autonomic dysfunction in Parkinson's disease],[null], [##Perez-Lloret S]}

because your code found two instances of four spaces. The parts[1] is empty because there was nothing present in between the two splits.

Hope this helps!

edited Feb 7, 2016 at 1:30

answered Feb 7, 2016 at 0:17

Floam

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3 Comments

Gavriel Over a year ago

but this doesn't explain why he doesn't get the 1st part of the sentence in parts[0]

Shaheryar Rajper Over a year ago

in 1st part im getting 6 empty spaces, 2nd part the title and third the author if exists. realized every line has 6 empty spaces in the beginning

Floam Over a year ago

Can you repost your code in a readable format. When you post it, highlight it and press command 'k' if you are using a Mac.

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