How to decode a HTML single quote entity in a string in Java?

Asked Nov 12 '18 at 23:25

Active Nov 12 '18 at 23:28

Viewed 13 times

I am trying to decode the HTML single quote entity that I have in a given string using the replace method, but it doesn't seem to work that way. Here is the block of code for testing,

String s = "I&#039;ve been going to school since 1999.";
System.out.println(s.contains("&#039"));

s.replace("&#039;", "\'");
System.out.println(s);

This is the result I get when I run the above.

true
I&#039;ve been going to school since 1999.

Why does contains method returns true but replace method doesn't do anything?

I read some posts about using the Apache commons lang library, but I am not familiar with how to use the library so I was trying to look for a simpler way to fix this.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

edited Nov 12 '18 at 23:28

asked Nov 12 '18 at 23:25

sheIsTrue

1

because the `replace` method doesn't change the existing string. it returns a modified string. so `s = s.replace(...)` – Roddy of the Frozen Peas Nov 12 '18 at 23:26
Corollary: strings in Java are immutable. No method can modify a string, so you know automatically that anytime you want to change a string you always have to make a new one (but see `StringBuilder`). – markspace Nov 12 '18 at 23:28
Thank you guys for the quick replies. – sheIsTrue Nov 12 '18 at 23:29

How to decode a HTML single quote entity in a string in Java?

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