java how to replace ? in string with values

Question

In theory simple thing but I can't find the answer.

Let's assume we have the String:

"Today at ? cars yellow: ? cars red: ? cars black ?"

And now I want to create to execute some function X in the following way:

X("Today at ? cars yellow: ? cars red: ? cars black", value1, value 2, value 3, value 4)

to get as result the string:

"Today at 12:00 cars yellow: 123 cars red: 11 cars black 24"

Is there any X function ready to be used from the shelf? If not how to write my own?

If you switch to using `%d` (and/or `%s`) instead of `?` then you could use [String.format](http://tinyurl.com/java-string-format2) — user2864740, Oct 28 '13 at 21:29
Maybe [`String.format()`](http://stackoverflow.com/a/47049) would help ? — HamZa, Oct 28 '13 at 21:29

Kevin DiTraglia · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-28T21:47:55.460

3

You could easily make one:

static String X(String sentence, String... args) {
   for (String arg : args) {
        sentence = sentence.replaceFirst("\\?", arg);
    }
    return sentence;
}

If you are able to modify what the strings look like and use %s instead of ? you could use String.format() instead.

edited Oct 28 '13 at 21:47

answered Oct 28 '13 at 21:34

Kevin DiTraglia

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Since when `String.format` uses `{0}`? I thought it was `%[argument_index$][flags][width][.precision]conversion`. Maybe you mean `MessageFormat.format` like in [Fouad's answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/19645442/1393766). – Pshemo Oct 28 '13 at 21:38
That would be the perfect solution if I could call it easily ex. for X(string, long, long, string). Otherwise I have to convert manually args to String first. But still big thank you. – user2707175 Oct 29 '13 at 00:39

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 28 '13 at 21:30

2

You can eventually use MessageFormat even if the placeholder is not ? but {x} with x the position of the variable in the input list: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/text/MessageFormat.html

answered Oct 28 '13 at 21:30

Fouad HAMDI

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 28 '13 at 21:31

2

Check out the String.format() docs: String.format() javadoc

answered Oct 28 '13 at 21:31

aryn.galadar

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13

Jonathan Rosenne · Answer 4 · 2013-10-30T03:35:43.700

1

static String x(final String format, final Object... values) {

    String f = format.replace("%", "%%");

    f = f.replace("?", "%s");

    return String.format(f, values);
}

edited Oct 30 '13 at 03:35

answered Oct 28 '13 at 21:50

Jonathan Rosenne

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A better version, handling % occurrences in the input. – Jonathan Rosenne Oct 30 '13 at 03:31

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 28 '13 at 22:13

1

This should work fine, look into the String.format() method. Replace each instance of "?" with "%s" and then call String.format and pass all your arguments.

while(myString.contains("?")){
  myString = myString.subString(0,myString.indexOf("?")) + "%s" + myString.subString(myString.indexOf("?" + 1));
}
String final = String.format(myString, val1, val2, val3);

answered Oct 28 '13 at 22:13

SpacePrez

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7
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1

what if my string already contains % used for other purposes? – user2707175 Oct 29 '13 at 00:40
That's a good point. You'd have to sanitize the string first, you could convert % into something else and then back to % after the format. But then you need a special symbol that won't be used. String s = "test?%" s = s.replace("%", "@"); s = s.replace("?","%s"); s = String.format(s, arg, arg, arg); s = s.replace("@","%"); – SpacePrez Oct 29 '13 at 16:34

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 29 '13 at 00:46

The following solution, inspired by Kevin DiTraglia, I would treat as perfect (you can have different objects and primitive types as arguments, not only Strings).

/** replaces ? with arguments */
public static String format (String text, Object... args) {
       for (Object arg : args) {
            text = text.replaceFirst(SPECIAL_CHAR, arg.toString());
        }
    return text;
}

Vikrant Goel · Answer 7 · 2013-10-29T05:29:32.173

0

I don't think there exists a method for this in java. But one of the implementations can be this (although its tooooo problem specific)

public static String X(String s,String s1,String s2,String s3,String s4){
    String[] array = s.split("\\?");
    s=array[0]+s1+array[1]+s2+array[2]+s3+array[3]+s4;
    return s;
}

edited Oct 29 '13 at 05:29

answered Oct 28 '13 at 21:32

Vikrant Goel

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or maybe see [Kevin DiTraglia's solution](http://stackoverflow.com/a/19645502/1521453), its better in case you have an array of arguments. – Vikrant Goel Oct 28 '13 at 21:36

java how to replace ? in string with values

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