Java String split("|" ) method call not working correctly

Question

public class SplitStr {

    public static void main(String []args) {
        String str1 = "This | is | My | Account | For | Java|";
        String str2 = "This / is / My / Account / For / Java/";
       // String[] arr = str.split("|");

        for(String item : str1.split("|")) {
            System.out.print(item);
        }
    }
}

The program is working correctly with String str2 but it is not working with String str1 What are the possible flows in this program?

What do you mean not working? Show the output in both cases please. — shree.pat18, Jul 16 '14 at 08:28
you are calling it on str, not on str1. personally, I'm surprised this compiles. — Stultuske, Jul 16 '14 at 08:29

score 53 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 14 '19 at 03:21

53

String#split() expects a regular expression as the first argument and | is a control character in regex.

To make regex parser understand that you mean to split by the literal |, you need to pass \| to the regex parser. But \ is a control character in Java string literals. So, to make Java compiler understand that you want to pass \| to the regex parser, you need to pass "\\|" to the String#split() method.

edited Mar 14 '19 at 03:21

Justin Batch

17
5

answered Jul 16 '14 at 08:30

Jae Heon Lee

1,101
6
10

1

Good explanation with deep detail. +1 – Irfan Raza Jan 12 '16 at 22:55

Ruchira Gayan Ranaweera · Answer 2 · 2014-07-16T08:31:27.527

23

Use

str1.split("\\|")

instead of

str1.split("|")

You need to escape |

edited Jul 16 '14 at 08:31

answered Jul 16 '14 at 08:30

Ruchira Gayan Ranaweera

34,993
17
75
115

score 10 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 16 '14 at 08:30

split expects a regular expression, and since | is a special character in regular expressions, you have to escape it. Try str.split("\\|"). Example:

>>> Arrays.asList("This | is | My | Account | For | Java|".split("\\|"));
[This ,  is ,  My ,  Account ,  For ,  Java]

Java String split("|" ) method call not working correctly

3 Answers3