The replaceAll() with regular expression not working

Question

This is my Java code:

public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
String a = in.nextLine();

String pattern = "^co[a-z|A-Z]e$";

String b = a.replaceAll(pattern,"1");
System.out.print(b);

I just had to replace the word "code" or any word with "co'[a-z|A-Z]'e" with '1', but it seems to work only when the input string is "code" and nothing else

Example Input: codexxccope

Expected Output: 1xxc1

My Output: codexxccope

Example Input 2: code

My Output: 1

Any suggestions?

`^` stands for string start and `$` for string end. Which means that the pattern will be replaced only when the entire string matches it. — Titus, Jan 22 '18 at 20:51
Also, inside a character class the `|` symbol is an ordinary character. If you want to match only upper- and lowercase Latin letters, then just remove it from the character class altogether. — John Bollinger, Jan 22 '18 at 20:53
@WiktorStribiżew, it's still not working, giving the same output — S4rt-H4K, Jan 22 '18 at 21:08
Sorry, just remove the anchors, use `String pattern = "co[a-zA-Z]e";` — Wiktor Stribiżew, Jan 22 '18 at 21:09

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 22 '18 at 21:36

There are two issues here: ^ matches the start of string position, $ matches the end of string position, and [a-z|A-Z] matches any ASCII letter or | (as the pipe inside the character class matches the literal | char.

Use

String pattern = "co[a-zA-Z]e";

The [a-zA-Z] character class matches any ASCII letter.

See the regex demo.

The replaceAll() with regular expression not working

1 Answers1