Using Java String split() as simple "parser"

Question

[{Action=GoTo, Title=0001000a, Page=1 XYZ 7 797 null}, {Action=GoTo, Title=0001000b, Page=3 XYZ 7 797 null}, {Action=GoTo, Title=0001000c, Page=5 XYZ 7 797 null}, {Action=GoTo, Title=0001000d, Page=7 XYZ 7 797 null}]

I'm trying to find the simplest way to parse the above String, all I need are "Title" and "Page". So I want a simple String[] = {"0001000a","1","0001000b","3"...}

str.split("(\\[|, )\\{Action=GoTo, Title=|, Page=| XYZ \\d+ \\d+ null\\}");

I have tested the regexp in a few online js regexp tester, it seems fine, but the resulting String[] = {"0001000a","1","","0001000b","3",""...}, an extra empty string after each page value.

str.split("\\[|\\{Action=GoTo, Title=|, Page=| XYZ \\d+ \\d+ null\\}(, |\\])");

This one produces String[] = {"","0001000a","1","","0001000b","3"...}, an empty string in front of every title value.

It seems like java doesn't like ", " as regexp, or it could be the way that Java String.split() works!?

Why are you using split(), when this is obviously not a simple case. Regexp would be far better suited — Tibrogargan
– Tibrogargan, Commented May 3, 2016 at 3:41
hi Tibrogargan, I thought it's simple enough to use split(). Anyway, I'm open to other ideas. — wez
– wez, Commented May 3, 2016 at 3:49

Tibrogargan · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-03 03:51:53Z

1

This is easily implemented using plain Regexp instead of split()

String line = "[{Action=GoTo, Title=0001000a, Page=1 XYZ 7 797 null}, {Action=GoTo, Title=0001000b, Page=3 XYZ 7 797 null}, {Action=GoTo, Title=0001000c, Page=5 XYZ 7 797 null}, {Action=GoTo, Title=0001000d, Page=7 XYZ 7 797 null}]";
ArrayList<String> list = new ArrayList<>();
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("Title=([^,]+), Page=([^}]+)}");
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(line);
while (matcher.find()) {
    list.add(matcher.group(1));
    list.add(matcher.group(2));
}
String[] foo = list.toArray(new String[list.size()]);

answered May 3, 2016 at 3:51

Tibrogargan

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1 Comment

wez Over a year ago

Thx Tibrogargan, I'm so green in regexp, thanks for the example.

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