How do I make this regex a valid Java regex?

Question

In an earlier question I asked about sanitizing postal street addresses, one of the respondents recommended this solution:

addressString.replace(/^\s*[0-9]+\s*(?=.*$)/,'');

which is perhaps a valid regex call but is not valid in Java.

I unsuccessfully tried to make this valid Java code by changing it to the following:

addressString.replaceAll("/^\\s*[0-9]+\\s*(?=.*$)/","")

But this code had no effect on the address I tested it with:

310 W 50th Street

Did I not correctly translate this to Java?

FYI, you don't need that `(?=.*$)` at the end. @ElRonnoco corrected himself on that point in his answer: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3636650/how-would-you-sanitize-the-street-number-out-of-a-postal-address-using-java/3636787#3636787 — Alan Moore, Sep 03 '10 at 16:07

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 03 '10 at 15:30

5

You don't need the slashes in Java.

addressString.replaceAll("^\\s*[0-9]+\\s*(?=.*$)","")

answered Sep 03 '10 at 15:30

kennytm

510,854
105
1,084
1,005

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 03 '10 at 15:30

3

You need to take out the slashes at the beginning and end:

addressString.replaceAll("^\\s*[0-9]+\\s*(?=.*$)","")

They're used to quote regexes in some languages, but Java just uses ""

answered Sep 03 '10 at 15:30

rescdsk

8,739
4
36
32

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 03 '10 at 15:30

You need to get rid of the forward slashes at the beginning and end.

For the future, you can probably ask for clarification on the answer itself instead of starting a new question. I apologize, I was going to ask the person who gave that answer to translate it to valid Java myself but forgot.

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Sep 03 '10 at 15:52

0

Edited to support street names that start with a number:

Try the following Java String:

"^\\s*[0-9]+\\s*(?=.*$)".

edited Sep 03 '10 at 15:52

Alan Moore

73,866
12
100
156

answered Sep 03 '10 at 15:36

Florian

538
4
11

How do I make this regex a valid Java regex?

4 Answers4