Replacing Regular expression matches in Java

Question

I want to replace &sp; in the string below with Z.

Input text : ABCD&sp;EF&p;GHIJ&bsp;KL

Output text : ABCDZEFZGHIZKL

Can anyone tell me how to replace the every instance of &\D+; using java regular expression?

I am using /(&\D+;)?/ but it doesn't work.

Voting to close as no attempt shown and your own description of the problem appears incorrect. — Tim Biegeleisen, Jan 16 '19 at 11:13
Although it works, it matches entire `&;;`. You may want to use `&[^;\d]*;` instead. — revo, Jan 16 '19 at 11:22

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 16 '19 at 11:18

2

Use String#replaceAll.

You also should use the ? modificator to +:

String str = "ABCD&sp;EF&p;GHIJ&bsp;KL";
String regex = "&\\D+?;";
System.out.println (str.replaceAll(regex,"Z"));

This should work

answered Jan 16 '19 at 11:18

dquijada

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Christallkeks · Answer 2 · 2019-01-16T11:21:32.693

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Match the initial &, then all characters that are not the tailing ;, then that tailing ; like so: &[^;]+; If not matching numbers (as suggested by your example with \D) is a requirement, add the numbers to the negated character set: [^;0-9] To make it replace all occurrences, add the global flag g. The site regexr.com is a handy tool to create regexes.

Edit: Sorry, I initially read your question wrong.

edited Jan 16 '19 at 11:21

answered Jan 16 '19 at 11:15

Christallkeks

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Replacing Regular expression matches in Java

2 Answers2