Java regex replaceAll not working

Question

regex not working as wanted

Code example:

widgetCSS = "#widgetpuffimg{width:100%;position:relative;display:block;background:url(/images/small-banner/Dog-Activity-BXP135285s.jpg) no-repeat 50% 0; height:220px;} 

someothertext #widgetpuffimg{width:100%;position:relative;display:block;}"

newWidgetCSS = widgetCSS.replaceAll("#widgetpuffimg\\{(.*?)\\}","");

I want all occurrences in the string that match the pattern "#widgetpuffimg{anycharacters}" to be replaced by nothing

Resulting in newWidgetCSS = someothertext

I'm confused...are you saying the result of "someothertext" is what you desire, or what you're currently getting? Because I get "someothertext" as the result. — Mark Peters
– Mark Peters, Commented Nov 2, 2011 at 16:14
Yeah, it works fine for me; although I wasn't sure how to edit it to make it legible. I don't think you need the grouping around the .*? though. — Dave Newton
– Dave Newton, Commented Nov 2, 2011 at 16:18
same here, i am also getting " someothertext " as the output. — Narendra Yadala
– Narendra Yadala, Commented Nov 2, 2011 at 16:18
Sorry all It works as intended in my real code I was lacking the last curly braces that I included in the example above. Will remove the post. Thanks for all input as it verified that it should work as written and I had to look at the real code. — jalmen
– jalmen, Commented Nov 2, 2011 at 16:28
Mark an answer (possibly your own) as solution instead of appending "SOLVED" to the title. — deamon
– deamon, Commented Nov 2, 2011 at 16:33

Narendra Yadala · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-02 16:25:38Z

1

Update: After edit of question

I think the regex is working properly according to your requirements if you are escaping your { as mentioned below. The exact output I am getting is " someothertext ".

It has to be newWidgetCSS = widgetCSS.replaceAll("#widgetpuffimg\\{(.*?)\\}",""); You need to use \\{ instead of \{ for escaping { properly.

edited Nov 2, 2011 at 16:25

answered Nov 2, 2011 at 16:13

Narendra Yadala

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7 Comments

jalmen Over a year ago

? I am escaping with double backslashes

Mark Peters Over a year ago

This was a misunderstanding due to the OP not formatting the code in the question properly.

Narendra Yadala Over a year ago

@jalmen in your first version of the question it was showing single backslash. editing the answer now.

FailedDev Over a year ago

@Narendra Also you don't need to escape } :)

Narendra Yadala Over a year ago

@FailedDev I think in java you need to escape { to match a literal {. Please check.

|

FailedDev · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-02 16:15:06Z

This should work :

String resultString = subjectString.replaceAll("(?s)\\s*#widgetpuffimg\\{.*?\\}\\s*", "");

Explanation :

"\\s" +                // Match a single character that is a “whitespace character” (spaces, tabs, line breaks, etc.)
   "*" +                 // Between zero and unlimited times, as many times as possible, giving back as needed (greedy)
"#widgetpuffimg" +    // Match the characters “#widgetpuffimg” literally
"\\{" +                // Match the character “{” literally
"." +                 // Match any single character
   "*?" +                // Between zero and unlimited times, as few times as possible, expanding as needed (lazy)
"}" +                 // Match the character “}” literally
"\\s" +                // Match a single character that is a “whitespace character” (spaces, tabs, line breaks, etc.)
   "*"                   // Between zero and unlimited times, as many times as possible, giving back as needed (greedy)

As an added bonus it trims the whitespace.

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