Java regex, replace certain characters except if it matches a pattern

Question

I have this string "person","hobby","key" and I want to remove " " for all words except for key so the output will be person,hobby,"key"

String str = "\"person\",\"hobby\",\"key\"";
System.out.println(str+"\n");

str=str.replaceAll("/*regex*/","");

System.out.println(str); //person,hobby,"key"

41686d6564 · Accepted Answer · 2022-05-05 01:50:10Z

1

You may use the following pattern:

\"(?!key\")(.+?)\"

And replace with $1

Details:

\" - Match a double quotation mark character.
(?!key\") - Negative Lookahead (not followed by the word "key" and another double quotation mark).
(.+?) - Match one or more characters (lazy) and capture them in group 1.
\" - Match another double quotation mark character.
Substitution: $1 - back reference to whatever was matched in group 1.

Regex demo.

Here's a full example:

String str = "\"person\",\"hobby\",\"key\"";
String pattern = "\"(?!key\")(.+?)\"";
String result = str.replaceAll(pattern, "$1");

System.out.println(result);  // person,hobby,"key"

Try it online.

edited May 5, 2022 at 1:50

answered May 5, 2022 at 1:36

41686d6564

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6 Comments

Ziad-Mid Over a year ago

and for key(type) , I tried this pattern "(?!key(.*)")(.+?)" but didn't work I get this output person,name,"key:VID(string), hobby" , how can I fix it ?

41686d6564 Over a year ago

@Ziad-Mid I'm not sure I understand. If you have "key:something" instead of "key", the quotes will be removed. Isn't that what you want? See this demo.

Ziad-Mid Over a year ago

no I asked if we do the same thing but instead of key we use key(type) for example in this String "person","name","key(string)","hobby" I want the output as person,name,"key(string)",hobby

41686d6564 Over a year ago

@Ziad-Mid Is it always "key(something" or do you want it to work for any string starting with "key"? Perhaps \"(?!key)(.+?)\" or \"(?!key\b)(.+?)\" is what you're after?

Ziad-Mid Over a year ago

it is always key(something) I tried those you sent but they don't work it's same output as before ` person,name,"key(string), hobby" `

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