Java string split with multiple delimeters

Question

What would be the best way to split this string directly after the CN= to store both the first and last name in separate fields as shown below?

String distinguisedName = "CN=Paul M. Sebula,OU=BBB,OU=Users,OU=TIES Project,DC=SPHQTest,DC=na,DC=BBBBBB,DC=com"
String firstName"Paul"
String lastName="Sebula"

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:21

Don't re-invent the wheel. Assuming these are well-formed DN's, see the accepted answer on this question for how to parse without directly writing your own regex: Parsing the CN out of a certificate DN

Once you've extracted the CN, then you can apply some of the other parsing techniques suggested (use the Java StringTokenizer or the String.split() method as others here have suggested if it's known to be separated only by spaces). That assumes that you can make assumptions (eg. the first element in the resulting array is the firstName,the last element is the lastName and everything in between is middle names / initials) about the CN format.

Good answer. If a language has an available parser, use that parser. Unless you have the DN specification at hand, let others take care of the ugly details. — tucuxi, Jul 10 '15 at 15:40

Wiktor Stribiżew · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-10T15:30:49.077

You can use split:

String distinguisedName = "CN=Paul Sebula,OU=BAE,OU=Users,OU=TIES Project,DC=SPHQTest,DC=na,DC=baesystems,DC=com";
String[] names = distinguisedName.split(",")[0].split("=")[1].split(" ");
String firstName = names[0]; 
String lastName= names.length > 2 ? names[names.length-1] : names[1];
System.out.println(firstName + " " + lastName);

See IDEONE demo, output: Paul Sebula.

This also accounts for just 2 names (first and last only). Note how last name is accessed it being the last item in the array.

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 10 '15 at 15:34

public static void main(String[] args) {

    String distinguisedName = "CN=Paul M. Sebula,OU=BBB,OU=Users,OU=TIES Project,DC=SPHQTest,DC=na,DC=BBBBBB,DC=com";
    String splitResult[]=distinguisedName.split(",")[0].split("=");
    String resultTwo[]=splitResult[1].split("\\.");
    String firstName=resultTwo[0].split(" ")[0].trim();
    String lastName=resultTwo[1].trim();
    System.out.println(firstName);
    System.out.println(lastName);

}

output

Paul

Sebula

GriffeyDog · Answer 4 · 2015-07-10T15:30:25.213

0

In steps:

String distinguisedName = "CN=Paul M. Sebula,OU=BBB,OU=Users,OU=TIES Project,DC=SPHQTest,DC=na,DC=BBBBBB,DC=com";
String fullName = distinguisedName.substring(3, distinguisedName.indexOf(','));
String[] nameParts = fullName.split(" ");
String firstName = nameParts[0];
String lastName = nameParts[nameParts.length-1];

This will work for cases where the middle name/initial are not present as well.

edited Jul 10 '15 at 15:30

answered Jul 10 '15 at 15:24

GriffeyDog

8,186
3
22
34

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 10 '15 at 15:26

String distinguisedName = "CN=Paul M. Sebula,OU=BBB,OU=Users,OU=TIES Project,DC=SPHQTest,DC=na,DC=BBBBBB,DC=com"

String[] commaSplit = distinguisedName.split(',');
String[] whitespaceSplit = commaSplit[0].split(' ');
String firstName = whitespaceSplit[0].substring(3);
String lastName = whiteSpaceSplit[2];

Java string split with multiple delimeters

5 Answers5