Java 8 string handling - replaceFirst and replaceAll

Question

Is there a better way of doing this in Java8 e.g. with Stream.of(...)?

if (messageBody.startsWith("\n\n")) {
    messageBody = messageBody.replaceFirst("\n", "");
}
final String messageBodyFormatted = messageBody.replaceAll("\n", "<br />");

You can get rid of the condition by using: replaceFirst("\n(?=\n)", "");. I don't think Java 8 will give you more here. — Maroun
– Maroun, Commented Aug 22, 2016 at 11:01
Does this mean you want to leave heading/trailing spaces (not newlines) untouched? — fge
– fge, Commented Aug 22, 2016 at 11:37
@Maroun Maroun: that doesn’t have the same semantics as the startsWith check which requires the occurrence to be at the very start of the string. Fixing that, allows an even simpler solution: replaceFirst("^\n\n", "\n"). — Holger
– Holger, Commented Aug 22, 2016 at 13:27

Anonymous · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-22 11:32:08Z

3

Here’s an option:

    if (messageBody.startsWith("\n\n")) {
        messageBody = messageBody.substring(1); // remove first newline
    }
    final String messageBodyFormatted = messageBody.replace("\n", "<br />");

Inside the if statement I’m simply removing the first char since I already know what it is. If you think it’s subtle, just use your own version instead. I changed the final replaceAll() with replace() — in spite of the name it does the same, only without regular expressions.

answered Aug 22, 2016 at 11:32

Anonymous

87.4k15 gold badges163 silver badges181 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

Joop Eggen Over a year ago

Indeed the box of java 8 need not be opened.

Anonymous Over a year ago

@JoopEggen, I agree. Streams are fun, but I wouldn’t dream of using them in this snippet.

srborlongan Over a year ago

The only thing different in Java 8 would be using Optionals in lieu of if-statements, and even then, it's only appealing if you really don't like to define variables: Optional.of(messageBody).map(body -> body.startsWith("\n\n") ? body.substring(1) : body).map(body -> body.replace("\n", "<br />")).ifPresent(formatted -> { /* do something*/ })

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Java 8 string handling - replaceFirst and replaceAll

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related