Splitting a Java String return empty array?

Question

I have a String something like this

"myValue"."Folder"."FolderCentury";

I want to split from dot("."). I was trying with the below code:

String a = column.replace("\"", "");
String columnArray[] = a.split(".");

But columnArray is coming empty. What I am doing wrong here?

I will want to add one more thing here someone its possible String array object will contain spitted value like mentioned below only two object rather than three.?

columnArray[0]= "myValue"."Folder";
columnArray[1]= "FolderCentury";

I have added some more specification in question so it should not be look like duplicate. — Programmer, Aug 29 '13 at 10:26

Maroun · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-04T06:23:06.270

45

Note that String#split takes a regex.

You need to escape the special char . (That means "any character"):

 String columnArray[] = a.split("\\.");

(Escaping a regex is done by \, but in Java, \ is written as \\).

You can also use Pattern#quote:

Returns a literal pattern String for the specified String.

String columnArray[] = a.split(Pattern.quote("."));

By escaping the regex, you tell the compiler to treat the . as the string . and not the special char ..

edited Oct 04 '20 at 06:23

answered Aug 29 '13 at 10:15

Maroun

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i have added one more thing in same question is this possible? – Programmer Aug 29 '13 at 10:25
`columnArray[0]= "myValue"."Folder";` This won't compile. – Maroun Aug 29 '13 at 10:54
Yes but String is inside columnArray[0] and it would worked i have some more complexity how these value coming only i want how i can split it like two string – Programmer Aug 29 '13 at 11:02
I don't understand your question. Can you please elaborate? – Maroun Aug 29 '13 at 11:07
I have asked here see if this can exaplin you my problem http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18508782/split-a-string-in-java-against-the-split-rule – Programmer Aug 29 '13 at 11:08

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 29 '13 at 10:15

3

You must escape the dot.

String columnArray[] = a.split("\\.");

answered Aug 29 '13 at 10:15

Arnaud Denoyelle

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 29 '13 at 10:18

2

split() accepts an regular expression. So you need to skip '.' to not consider it as a regex meta character.

String[] columnArray = a.split("\\.");

answered Aug 29 '13 at 10:18

Aniket Thakur

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 29 '13 at 10:19

1

While using special characters need to use the particular escape sequence with it.

'.' is a special character so need to use escape sequence before '.' like:

 String columnArray[] = a.split("\\.");

answered Aug 29 '13 at 10:19

Praveen P Moolekandathil

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Tomas Narros · Answer 5 · 2013-08-29T13:01:27.193

1

The next code:

   String input = "myValue.Folder.FolderCentury";
   String regex = "(?!(.+\\.))\\.";
   String[] result=input.split(regex);
   System.out.println(Arrays.toString(result));

Produces the required output:

[myValue.Folder, FolderCentury]

The regular Expression tweaks a little with negative look-ahead (this (?!) part), so it will only match the last dot on a String with more than one dot.

edited Aug 29 '13 at 13:01

answered Aug 29 '13 at 11:28

Tomas Narros

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Splitting a Java String return empty array?

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