Modifying xml via regex in java

Question

I have the following XML String:

 <asd1:content></asd1:content>

The namespace prefix asd1 could be different at different places in the XML file.

I want to modify it to :

 <asd1:content>*</asd1:content>

I am trying to do it via regex as follows:

myString.replaceAll("<.*:content></.*:content>","replacement text");

The problem is that I don,t want to lose the namespace prefix. What should I do?

what you are looking for is an xml parser. it handles all that crazy namespace stuff automatically. — jtahlborn, Apr 24 '14 at 17:09
I am already using xmlunit for comparison but the stupid thing gives error in case of empty text nodes.Thats why I am trying to replace empty textnodes with dummy text before performing comparison — user1107888, Apr 24 '14 at 17:11
post an example of the code you want to replace and the desired output. — Pedro Lobito, Apr 24 '14 at 17:12
"I have the following XML String" - no you don't, that's not well-formed XML (colon in the start tag, dot in the end tag) — Ian Roberts, Apr 24 '14 at 17:14

Pedro Lobito · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-24T17:27:59.157

0

Please note that you've 2 typos:

cotent instead of content
replaceAlll instead of replaceAll

If you still need a regex, you can use:

String resultString = subjectString.replaceAll("(?ism)<(.*?):content></(.*?)\\.content>", "<$1:content>*</$2.content>");

edited Apr 24 '14 at 17:27

answered Apr 24 '14 at 17:20

Pedro Lobito

That's 3 typo's if you include the end tag where ':' is replaced with '.': ``. – Steinar Apr 24 '14 at 17:32

1 Answers1