String split() over white spaces and "(" and ")"

Question

I have a String

String testString = "IN NEWYORK AND (OUT FLORIDA)" ;

I want to split out this string in array Like :

String testArray[] = testString.split("\\s()");

I would like the result to be:

testArray[0] = "IN";
testArray[1] = "NEWYORK";
testArray[2] = "AND";
testArray[3] = "(";
testArray[4] = "OUT";
testArray[5] = "FLORIDA";
testArray[6] = ")";

However, the output I get is:

testArray[0] = "IN";
testArray[1] = "NEWYORK";
testArray[2] = "AND";
testArray[3] = "(OUT";
testArray[4] = "FLORIDA)";

It is splitting on white spaces but not on "(" and ")" , I want "(" and ")" to be as seperate strings .

"_I want `(` and `)` to be as seperate strings_": `(` and `)` are separate strings in your array. But maybe I don't get your question. — Baz, Oct 08 '12 at 08:30
nopes Baz actaual output is testArray[0] = "IN"; testArray[1] = "NEWYORK"; testArray[2] = "AND"; testArray[4] = "(OUT"; testArray[5] = "FLORIDA)"; — Satish Sharma, Oct 08 '12 at 08:32
would this link be of any help: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2206378/how-to-split-a-string-but-also-keep-the-delimiters ? — android developer, Oct 08 '12 at 08:43

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 08 '12 at 08:46

3

Try the below:

String testArray[] = testString.split("\\s|(?<=\\()|(?=\\))");

answered Oct 08 '12 at 08:46

xdazz

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 08 '12 at 08:50

split() requires a deleimeter to remove. Use StringTokenizer and instruct it to keep the delimiters.

    StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer("IN NEWYORK AND (OUT FLORIDA)", " ()", true);
    while (st.hasMoreTokens()) {
        String t = st.nextToken();
        if (!t.trim().equals("")) {
            System.out.println(t);
        }
    }

acerisara · Answer 3 · 2012-10-20T06:11:59.700

0

String test = "IN NEWYORK AND (OUT FLORIDA)";
// this can for sure be done better, hope you get the idea
String a = test.replaceAll("(", "( ");
String b = a.replaceAll(")", " )";

String array[] = b.split("\\s");

edited Oct 20 '12 at 06:11

answered Oct 08 '12 at 08:45

acerisara

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5

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:31

0

If you want to do it with string split, then monstrous regexes like \s+|((?<=\()|(?=\())|((?<=\))|(?=\))) are pretty much inevitable. This regex is based on this question, btw, and it almost works.

Easiest way is to either surround parentheses with spaces as suggested by @acerisara or use StringTokenizer as suggested by @user1030723

edited May 23 '17 at 12:31

Community

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answered Oct 08 '12 at 08:54

Denis Tulskiy

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i think you have an extra ")" there . the correct one should be : \s+|((?<=\()|(?=\())|((?<=\)|(?=\))) . i used this website : http://gskinner.com/RegExr/ . however , for some reason it didn't match anything... – android developer Oct 08 '12 at 09:14
@androiddeveloper: you did not escape any of the parentheses and produced a malformed regex, that is why it didn't work. – Denis Tulskiy Oct 08 '12 at 09:24
what do you mean? i used exactly what you've written. also i don't understand if you agree about the extra ")" you had. – android developer Oct 08 '12 at 09:29
@androiddeveloper: what I mean is that in clauses like `(?<=()` the second '(' should be escaped as `(?<=\\()`. So, no, there are no extra parentheses in my regex :) – Denis Tulskiy Oct 08 '12 at 10:14
ok , so what should be written in the testing website in order to see that it works? – android developer Oct 08 '12 at 11:35
@androiddeveloper: for me, copying the regex as is works fine. – Denis Tulskiy Oct 08 '12 at 12:15
you are correct. maybe i didn't copy it well. sorry. however, for the sample of the first post , the last separated text is "(OUT FLORIDA)" – android developer Oct 08 '12 at 12:32
@androiddeveloper: yes, I couldn't manage to make it work for general case. – Denis Tulskiy Oct 09 '12 at 03:17

String split() over white spaces and "(" and ")"

4 Answers4