Clojure: How to use variables in regular expressions?

Question

What is the correct way to use variables in a regular expression? E.g.:

(def var "/")
(split "foo/bar" #var)

should give

=> ["foo" "bar"]

But it doesn't work this way. So how do I do that? Thank you very much in advance.

nha · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-25 21:51:01Z

15

You can use re-pattern :

(def var "/")                ; variable containing a string
(def my-re (re-pattern var)) ; variable string to regex

(clojure.string/split "foo/bar" my-re)

Or, using a thread-last macro :

(->> "/"
     (re-pattern)
     (clojure.string/split "foo/bar"))

edited Sep 25, 2015 at 21:51

answered Jun 29, 2015 at 22:04

nha

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Comments

Joost Diepenmaat · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-07 12:34:24Z

9

(def my-re (java.util.regex.Pattern/compile "/")) ; to turn a string into a regex
;; or just
(def my-re #"/") ; if the regex can be a literal

(clojure.string/split "foo/bar" my-re)

answered Jan 7, 2012 at 12:34

Joost Diepenmaat

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2 Comments

A Friedrich Over a year ago

Wow, that was quick! Thanks a lot!

NielsK Over a year ago

(re-pattern "/") will do as well, slightly more concise than (java.util.regex.Pattern/compile "/")

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