Using multiple delimiters for .split in Java

Question

Right now my code only separates words by white space, but I also want to separate by '.' and "," too. Here is my current code:

for (String words : input.split("\\s+"))

For example, if the user entered "bread,milk,eggs" or "Um...awkss" It would consider that one word, and I want each word to be it's own word.

And while I'm here, I can't get

input.isAlpha()

to work either.

The canonical list of regular expressions you can use is at http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/regex/Pattern.html - it's not a tutorial, but there are plenty of other tutorials around. — Dawood ibn Kareem, Nov 14 '13 at 01:56
`isAlpha` is C. In Java it's called `isLetter`. Read http://www.java2s.com/Tutorial/Java/0120__Development/ChecksiftheStringcontainsonlyunicodeletters.htm — Dawood ibn Kareem, Nov 14 '13 at 01:57
I want to use isAlpha(or what ever it is for java) on a string, not a char. My compiler is telling me that isLetter is only for chars. Thanks for the link btw. — Bottlecaps, Nov 14 '13 at 02:02
Well, the link I gave you will tell you one way of doing that. Not the only way, but one way. — Dawood ibn Kareem, Nov 14 '13 at 02:04
Thanks! I was hoping there was a method in Java, but that would work too. — Bottlecaps, Nov 14 '13 at 02:08

Dariusz · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-17T10:27:43.503

8

You can split using this regex

input.split("\\s+|.+|,+")

or simply:

input.split("[\\s.,]+")

Remember that a dot doesn't have to be escaped inside square brackets

edited Jan 17 '18 at 10:27

answered Nov 14 '13 at 01:47

Dariusz

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Curious, why is \\s+ the regex for whitespace, \\. the one for period, but for comma you only need the comma? – Bottlecaps Nov 14 '13 at 01:48
period is a special character in regex; `\\` is the escape sequence. As I said, try to learn more about regex. Find a tutorial or sth. – Dariusz Nov 14 '13 at 01:49
@Dariusz why you escape `.` if you already did in by placing it inside `[]`? – Pshemo Nov 14 '13 at 01:51
`.` doesn't need to be escaped inside brackets – Paul Samsotha Nov 14 '13 at 01:53
2

Don't need the `+` after `\\s` in the square brackets. – Dawood ibn Kareem Nov 14 '13 at 01:54
@Spork if you are asking about regex tutorial suggestions then one of best is http://www.regular-expressions.info/tutorial.html – Pshemo Nov 14 '13 at 01:56

Paul Samsotha · Answer 2 · 2013-11-14T01:54:46.883

5

Use brackets

for (String words : input.split("[\\s.,]+"))

Brackets are used when you want any of the characters in the brackets, the + means the characters can be combined one or more times. to create one single delimiter, i.e. space and period or comma and space.

edited Nov 14 '13 at 01:54

answered Nov 14 '13 at 01:46

Paul Samsotha

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score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 16 '16 at 22:53

0

You can use this

mySring = "abc==abc++abc==bc++abc";
String[] splitString = myString.split("\\W+");

Regular expression \W+ ---> it will split the string based upon non-word character.

edited Apr 16 '16 at 22:53

Tunaki

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answered Apr 16 '16 at 22:48

UMESH0492

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Using multiple delimiters for .split in Java

3 Answers3

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