Regular expression for String.replaceAll

Question

I need a regular expression that can be used with replaceAll method of String class to replace all instance of * with .* except for one that has trailing \

i.e. conversion would be

[any character]*[any character] => [any character].*[any character]
* => .*
\* => \* (i.e. no conversion.)

Can someone please help me?

FailedDev · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-17 08:58:02Z

4

Use lookbehind.

String resultString = subjectString.replaceAll("(?<!\\\\)\\*", ".*");

Explanation :

"(?<!" +     // Assert that it is impossible to match the regex below with the match ending at this position (negative lookbehind)
   "\\\\" +       // Match the character “\” literally
")" +
"\\*"         // Match the character “*” literally

answered Nov 17, 2011 at 8:58

FailedDev

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Comments

stevevls · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-17 08:56:56Z

1

it may be possible to do without capture groups, but this should work:

myString.replaceAll("\\*([^\\\\]|$)", "*.$1");

answered Nov 17, 2011 at 8:56

stevevls

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