Use String.split() with multiple delimiters

Question

I need to split a string base on delimiter - and .. Below are my desired output.

AA.BB-CC-DD.zip ->

AA
BB
CC
DD
zip

but my following code does not work.

private void getId(String pdfName){
    String[]tokens = pdfName.split("-\\.");
}

Based on what you said, it looks like it is working fine. What is your desired output? — Jeff, May 13 '11 at 14:59
@Jeff: He showed his desired output (`AA` / `BB` / `CC` ...) — T.J. Crowder, May 13 '11 at 15:02
Are you sure? I interpreted that as his current output, not his desired output. Maybe its time to stand up and walk around a little bit. — Jeff, May 13 '11 at 15:04
@Jeff: Sorry for the confusion, I updated my post to clear your misunderstand. — Thang Pham, May 13 '11 at 15:05
Regex will degrade your performance. I would recommend write a method which will go character by character and split string if need. You can optimize this futher to get log(n) performance. — Princesh, Feb 16 '13 at 17:55

score 352 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 10 '19 at 20:25

352

I think you need to include the regex OR operator:

String[]tokens = pdfName.split("-|\\.");

What you have will match:
[DASH followed by DOT together] -.
not
[DASH or DOT any of them] - or .

edited Apr 10 '19 at 20:25

ahmednabil88

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answered May 13 '11 at 14:59

Richard H

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why we require two backslashes ?? – pjain Feb 21 '16 at 13:16
10

The `.` character in regex means any character other than new line. http://www.tutorialspoint.com/java/java_regular_expressions.htm In this case, however, they wanted the actual character `.`. The two backslashes indicate that you are referring to `.`. The backslash is an escape character. – Monkeygrinder Feb 21 '16 at 19:25
5

for normal cases it would be `.split("match1|match2")`, (eg. `split("https|http")`), \\ is to escape the special char `.` in above case – prayagupa Sep 14 '18 at 22:17
or generally, you can use `pdfName.split("\\W");` as below @Peter Knego answer – ahmednabil88 Apr 10 '19 at 21:08
4

use `[-.]` instead of `-|\\.` – Saeed Jul 04 '19 at 06:01

score 66 · Answer 2 · answered May 13 '11 at 15:00

66

Try this regex "[-.]+". The + after treats consecutive delimiter chars as one. Remove plus if you do not want this.

answered May 13 '11 at 15:00

Peter Knego

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@Lurkers: The only reason Peter didn't have to escape that `-` was that it's the *first* think inside the `[]`, otherwise there would need to be a backslash in front of it (and of course, to put a backslash in front of it, we need *two* because this is a string literal). – T.J. Crowder May 13 '11 at 18:32
2

I think this answer is better than the accepted one, because when you use the logical operator |, the problem is that one of your delimiters can be a part of your result 'tokens'. This will not happen with Peter Knego's [-.]+ – Jack' Jan 03 '18 at 16:05

score 30 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 18 '12 at 07:14

30

You can use the regex "\W".This matches any non-word character.The required line would be:

String[] tokens=pdfName.split("\\W");

answered Dec 18 '12 at 07:14

Varun Gangal

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it doesn't work for me ` String s = "id(INT), name(STRING),". Using \\W here creates an array of length 6 where as it should be only 4 – user3527975 Mar 02 '15 at 03:25
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This will also break when the input contains Unicode character. It's best to only include the actual delimiter, instead of a "grab all" with `\W`. – nhahtdh Oct 07 '15 at 07:23

score 15 · Answer 4 · answered May 13 '11 at 15:20

15

Using Guava you could do this:

Iterable<String> tokens = Splitter.on(CharMatcher.anyOf("-.")).split(pdfName);

answered May 13 '11 at 15:20

ColinD

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score 14 · Answer 5 · answered May 13 '11 at 15:00

14

The string you give split is the string form of a regular expression, so:

private void getId(String pdfName){
    String[]tokens = pdfName.split("[\\-.]");
}

That means to split on any character in the [] (we have to escape - with a backslash because it's special inside []; and of course we have to escape the backslash because this is a string). (Conversely, . is normally special but isn't special inside [].)

answered May 13 '11 at 15:00

T.J. Crowder

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You don't need to escape the hyphen in this case, because `[-.]` couldn't possibly be interpreted as a range. – Alan Moore May 13 '11 at 15:40
1

@Alan: Because it's the very first thing in the class, that's quite true. But I always do, it's too easy to go back later and add something in front of it without thinking. Escaping it costs nothing, so... – T.J. Crowder May 13 '11 at 18:31
do you know how to escape the brackets? I have String "[200] Engineering" that I want to split into "200" , "Engineering" – scottysseus Jul 30 '13 at 21:03
3

Oh wow I got it...I had to use two backslashes instead of one. `String[] strings = codes.get(x).split("\\[|\\]| ");` – scottysseus Jul 30 '13 at 21:05

score 7 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 12 '18 at 07:46

7

For two char sequence as delimeters "AND" and "OR" this should be worked. Don't forget to trim while using.

 String text ="ISTANBUL AND NEW YORK AND PARIS OR TOKYO AND MOSCOW";
 String[] cities = text.split("AND|OR");

Result : cities = {"ISTANBUL ", " NEW YORK ", " PARIS ", " TOKYO ", " MOSCOW"}

answered Jun 12 '18 at 07:46

ÖMER TAŞCI

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How can I get output like {"ISTANBUL AND", " NEW YORK AND", " PARIS OR", " TOKYO AND", " MOSCOW"} – Ahamadullah Saikat Sep 21 '19 at 13:10

score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 19 '16 at 11:44

I'd use Apache Commons:

import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;

private void getId(String pdfName){
    String[] tokens = StringUtils.split(pdfName, "-.");
}

It'll split on any of the specified separators, as opposed to StringUtils.splitByWholeSeparator(str, separator) which uses the complete string as a separator

score 4 · Answer 8 · edited Jun 25 '19 at 17:44

4

String[] token=s.split("[.-]");

edited Jun 25 '19 at 17:44

TylerH

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answered Jun 25 '19 at 17:43

Nitish

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Please help fighting the misunderstanding that StackOverflow is a free code-writing service, by augmenting your code-only answer with some explanation. – Yunnosch Jun 25 '19 at 17:48

score 4 · Answer 9 · answered Nov 29 '20 at 09:42

4

pdfName.split("[.-]+");

[.-] -> any one of the . or - can be used as delimiter
+ sign signifies that if the aforementioned delimiters occur consecutively we should treat it as one.

answered Nov 29 '20 at 09:42

Trying

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score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Jul 14 '17 at 08:59

2

It's better to use something like this:

s.split("[\\s\\-\\.\\'\\?\\,\\_\\@]+");

Have added a few other characters as sample. This is the safest way to use, because the way . and ' is treated.

answered Jul 14 '17 at 08:59

Pritam Banerjee

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score 1 · Answer 11 · edited Nov 26 '16 at 12:40

1

You may also specified regular expression as argument in split() method ..see below example....

private void getId(String pdfName){
String[]tokens = pdfName.split("-|\\.");
}

edited Nov 26 '16 at 12:40

bummi

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answered Oct 21 '16 at 06:46

Avdhesh Yadav

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score 1 · Answer 12 · edited Mar 13 '19 at 08:54

1

Try this code:

var string = 'AA.BB-CC-DD.zip';
array = string.split(/[,.]/);

edited Mar 13 '19 at 08:54

Cody Gray

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answered Mar 13 '19 at 08:25

Reaper

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Please help fighting the misunderstanding that StackOverflow is a free code-writing service, by augmenting your code-only answer with some explanation. – Yunnosch Jun 25 '19 at 17:49

score 0 · Answer 13 · edited Oct 12 '17 at 06:30

0

s.trim().split("[\\W]+")

should work.

edited Oct 12 '17 at 06:30

pleft

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answered Oct 11 '17 at 22:45

sss

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First, no, it does not work - maybe you can try it before posting? Then [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5993779/use-string-split-with-multiple-delimiters#answer-13928086) is same as your - but working. Finally you should check your formating (_should work._). – Arount Oct 11 '17 at 23:19
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Please help fighting the misunderstanding that StackOverflow is a free code-writing service, by augmenting your code-only answer with some explanation. – Yunnosch Jun 25 '19 at 17:49

score -1 · Answer 14 · edited May 01 '16 at 06:22

-1

If you know the sting will always be in the same format, first split the string based on . and store the string at the first index in a variable. Then split the string in the second index based on - and store indexes 0, 1 and 2. Finally, split index 2 of the previous array based on . and you should have obtained all of the relevant fields.

Refer to the following snippet:

String[] tmp = pdfName.split(".");
String val1 = tmp[0];
tmp = tmp[1].split("-");
String val2 = tmp[0];
...

edited May 01 '16 at 06:22

UrsinusTheStrong

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answered May 13 '11 at 15:02

isometrik

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It can be done in one step, so do it in one step. See the other replies. – Kaj May 13 '11 at 15:05
2

`pdfName.split(".")` results in a zero-length array. – Alan Moore May 13 '11 at 15:47
1) `.` Needs to be escaped as `\\.` – Shri Nov 25 '16 at 19:18

Use String.split() with multiple delimiters

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