Java regex split string by comma but ignore quotes and also parentheses

Question

I'm stuck with this regex.

So, I have input as:

"Crane device, (physical object)"(X1,x2,x4), not "Seen by research nurse (finding)", EntirePatellaBodyStructure(X1,X8), "Besnoitia wallacei (organism)", "Catatropis (organism)"(X1,x2,x4), not IntracerebralRouteQualifierValue, "Diospyros virginiana (organism)"(X1,x2,x4), not SuturingOfHandProcedure(X1)

and in the end I would like to get is:

"Crane device, (physical object)"(X1,x2,x4)
not "Seen by research nurse (finding)"
EntirePatellaBodyStructure(X1,X8)
"Besnoitia wallacei (organism)"
"Catatropis (organism)"(X1,x2,x4)
not IntracerebralRouteQualifierValue
"Diospyros virginiana (organism)"(X1,x2,x4)
not SuturingOfHandProcedure(X1)

I've tried regex

(\'[^\']*\')|(\"[^\"]*\")|([^,]+)|\\s*,\\s*

It works if I don't have a comma inside parentheses.

Looks like what you want here is a full fledged parser and not regexes. — fge, May 23 '13 at 15:45
this is actually prolog command, but in this case "not" doesn't effect. Also in parentheses is a variables, but it could be empty. — Vadim Ivanov, May 23 '13 at 15:46
interesting query. I wonder what persimmons have to do with knees or hand sutures. :-) — Jason S, May 23 '13 at 15:50
@JasonS I wish it was duplicate. I've spent more than 2 hours trying to find solution here. And I've considered that question. — Vadim Ivanov, May 23 '13 at 18:00

Ravi K Thapliyal · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-23T18:38:22.097

3

RegEx

(\w+\s)?("[^"]+"|\w+)(\(\w\d(,\w\d)*\))?

Java Code

String input = ... ;
Matcher m = Pattern.compile(
          "(\\w+\\s)?(\"[^\"]+\"|\\w+)(\\(\\w\\d(,\\w\\d)*\\))?").matcher(input);
while(matcher.find()) {
    System.out.println(matcher.group());
}

Output

"Crane device, (physical object)"(X1,x2,x4)
not "Seen by research nurse (finding)"
EntirePatellaBodyStructure(X1,X8)
not "Besnoitia wallacei (organism)"(X1,x2,x4)
not "Catatropis (organism)"(X1,x2,x4)
not IntracerebralRouteQualifierValue
not "Diospyros virginiana (organism)"(X1,x2,x4)
not SuturingOfHandProcedure(X1)

edited May 23 '13 at 18:38

answered May 23 '13 at 16:02

Ravi K Thapliyal

51,095
9
76
89

with example that I've given in the beging your Regex works perfect. But, unfortunately, with updated example not, specifically, part without any quotes. But thank you anyway, I'll try to improve it. – Vadim Ivanov May 23 '13 at 18:24
Check update. Added regex as per your new requirements. – Ravi K Thapliyal May 23 '13 at 18:38

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

1

Don't use regexes for this. Write a simple parser that keeps track of the number of parentheses encountered, and whether or not you are inside quotes. For more information, see: RegEx match open tags except XHTML self-contained tags

edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

Community

1
1

answered May 23 '13 at 15:45

We Are All Monica

13,000
8
46
72

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 23 '13 at 15:48

0

Would this do what you need?

System.out.println(yourString.replaceAll(", not", "\nnot"));

answered May 23 '13 at 15:48

John484

66
5

I'm sorry, that I gave bad example. Of course "not" is not obliged here. – Vadim Ivanov May 23 '13 at 15:50
Ah ok, I understand now with your updated example, I'm sure one of the other guys solutions will work for you then. – John484 May 23 '13 at 16:25

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered May 23 '13 at 15:51

Assuming that there is no possibility of nesting () within (), and no possibility of (say) \" within "", you can write something like:

private static final Pattern CUSTOM_SPLIT_PATTERN =
    Pattern.compile("\\s*((?:\"[^\"]*\"|[(][^)]*[)]|[^\"(]+)+)");
private static final String[] customSplit(final String input) {
    final List<String> ret = new ArrayList<String>();
    final Matcher m = CUSTOM_SPLIT_PATTERN.matcher(input);
    while(m.find()) {
        ret.add(m.group(1));
    }
    return ret.toArray(new String[ret.size()]);
}

(disclaimer: not tested).

Java regex split string by comma but ignore quotes and also parentheses

4 Answers4