Check if a String contains multiple values in Java without using OR operators?

Question

I have a code here that's checking if a record's title contains one of the four values that we want to ignore. If the title contains the 4 strings, we would like to put it in the database and set the state to IGNORE. If it doesn't, we still want to put it in the database and set the state to NEW for later processing.

The code works, however, it is a bit of an eye sore. How could I write this in a cleaner, more efficient, easier to read way?

 if (
    record.getTitle().contains("word") ||
    record.getTitle().contains("different word") ||
    record.getTitle().contains("phrase") ||
    record.getTitle().contains("different phrase")
  ) {
    int id = dao.insert(nv);
    nvRecord =
      NV
        .builder()
        .from(nv)
        .setId(id)
        .setState(state.IGNORE)
        .build();
  } else {
    int id = dao.insert(nv);
    nvRecord =
      NV
        .builder()
        .from(nv)
        .setId(id)
        .setState(state.NEW)
        .build();
  }

Elliott Frisch · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-11 22:58:02Z

4

You could use a regular expression for "Title" followed by one, two, three or four. Like,

if (record.getTitle().matches("Title [1234]")) {

Or compile a Pattern and use a Matcher like

Pattern p = Pattern.compile("Title [1234]");
Matcher m = p.matcher(title);
if (m.matches()) {

Based on your updated requirements, stream a List of your special titles and check if the record title contains it. Like,

if (List.of("Titanic", "The Great Gatsby", "Catch Me If You Can", "Inception")
        .stream().anyMatch(record.getTitle()::contains))

edited Oct 11, 2021 at 22:58

answered Oct 11, 2021 at 22:31

Elliott Frisch

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5 Comments

khelwood Over a year ago

You don't need | inside a character class. Should be [1234] or [1-4].

Elliott Frisch Over a year ago

@khelwood Good point. I wasn't thinking about that part (clearly).

jayteezer Over a year ago

Thank you for your answer! I forgot to specify that the titles are vastly different from one another and do not follow a pattern. For example: "Titanic", "The Great Gatsby", "Catch Me If You Can", "Inception"

Elliott Frisch Over a year ago

if (List.of("Titanic", "The Great Gatsby", "Catch Me If You Can", "Inception").stream().anyMatch(record.getTitle()::contains))

jayteezer Over a year ago

Thank you so much! That is a lot cleaner!

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