How to extract specific text from string using Regex in JAVA

Question

I have a String = '["Id","Lender","Type","Aging","Override"]'

from which I want to extract Id, Lender, Type and so on in an String array. I am trying to extract it using Regex but, the pattern is not removing the "[".

Can someone please guide me. Thanks!

Update: code I tried,

Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("\"(.+?)\"");
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(str);
List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();
while (matcher.find()) {
// System.out.println(matcher.group(1));.
list.add(matcher.group(1));

(Ps: new to Regex)

That looks like a JSON Array, so a JSON parser would be a good choice. — Andreas, May 12 '16 at 17:10
Using a JSON Parser is the right way to solve this, You can refer http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8264725/using-java-to-decode-json-array-of-objects/8264751#8264751 — karthikdivi, May 12 '16 at 17:41
@Sanjeev my bad, I just checked it's is working. Your solution also works perfectly. Although, I am still not getting how it is working? Thanks alot. — Jammy, May 12 '16 at 18:25

Scott Weaver · Answer 1 · 2016-05-12T18:44:51.970

1

but if your input was, say:

["Id","Lender","Ty\"pe","Aging","Override", "Override\\\\\"\""]

this regex will capture all values, while allowing those (valid) escaped quotes \" and literal backslashes \\ in your strings

regex: "((?:\\\\|\\"|[^"])+)"
or as java string: "\"((?:\\\\\\\\|\\\\\"|[^\"])+)\""

regex demo

edited May 12 '16 at 18:44

answered May 12 '16 at 17:16

Scott Weaver

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It was helpful! Tnx! – Jammy May 12 '16 at 18:26
1

no prob. you can go here to convert from a regex to properly escaped java string: http://www.regexplanet.com/advanced/java/index.html – Scott Weaver May 12 '16 at 18:32

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 12 '16 at 17:37

1

You can do something like this. It first removes "[ ]" and then splits on ","

System.out.println(Arrays.toString(string.replaceAll("\\[(.*)\\]", "$1").split(",")));

Hope this helps.

answered May 12 '16 at 17:37

Sanjeev

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score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 12 '16 at 20:15

1

Your code works, I tried it and I got the output you want.

String line = "[\"Id\",\"Lender\",\"Type\",\"Aging\",\"Override\"]";

Pattern r = Pattern.compile("\"(.+?)\"");
List<String> result = new ArrayList<>();        
// Now create matcher object.
Matcher m = r.matcher(line);
while (m.find( )) {
      result.add(m.group(1));
 } 
System.out.println(result);

output:

[Id, Lender, Type, Aging, Override]

obviously the square brackets are there because I am printing a List, they are not part of the words.

edited May 12 '16 at 20:15

Blake Yarbrough

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answered May 12 '16 at 18:28

Mario Cairone

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Thanks, I corrected a small error in my code. Now it's working. – Jammy May 12 '16 at 19:46

How to extract specific text from string using Regex in JAVA

3 Answers3