Escaping Special Characters in a Pattern : Replace « Regular Expressions « Java






  1. Java
  2. Regular Expressions
  3. Replace

Escaping Special Characters in a Pattern


import java.util.regex.Pattern;

public class Main {
  public static void main(String[] argv) throws Exception {

    String patternStr = "i.e.";

    boolean matchFound = Pattern.matches(patternStr, "i.e.");
    matchFound = Pattern.matches(patternStr, "ibex"); 

    // Quote the pattern; i.e. surround with \Q and \E
    matchFound = Pattern.matches("\\Q" + patternStr + "\\E", "i.e."); 
    matchFound = Pattern.matches("\\Q" + patternStr + "\\E", "ibex"); 

    // Escape the pattern
    patternStr = escapeRE(patternStr);

    matchFound = Pattern.matches(patternStr, "i.e."); 
    matchFound = Pattern.matches(patternStr, "ibex"); 

    // Returns a pattern where all punctuation characters are escaped.

  }

  public static String escapeRE(String str) {
    Pattern escaper = Pattern.compile("([^a-zA-z0-9])");
    return escaper.matcher(str).replaceAll("\\\\$1");
  }
}








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