Java Regex to detect end of sentence BUT ignore (num)(period) e.g. 15

Question

Trying to find a good regex for sentence end detection in java. The main issue is if there is a number then period, it detects it as a sentence end (see demo link). But in my case, I'd prefer it to not recognize that as a sentence end, even though in some cases it might be. What I see in documents more commonly are section headers which look like :

  12.  the end of the world   13. world didnt end  14. nope it did

In my case it's splitting up a lot of simple header listings into sentences which I don't want.

addition issue with solution posted here:

The proposed solution is: [!?.]+(?=$|\s)

See demo:  http://regex101.com/r/lS5tT3/15

The issue is if there is a chapter heading such as 15. then it sees it incorrectly as a sentence end. try this text in the demo and you will see the issue in the first sentence :

   This is the f!!rst *15.* the best sentence! Is this the second one? The third 32.5 sentence is here... And the fourth one!!

If there are any regex whizzes who can help add logically that it is not a sentence end if period space but preceeded by a number that would be quite helpful

I tried to improve your quesiton formatting, but then you undid it with your next edit. Please fix it yourself now. — Barmar, Jan 15 '20 at 21:33
You will also have to account for common abbreviations like `Dr.`, `U.S.`, etc. — Wiktor Stribiżew, Jan 15 '20 at 21:39
And account for names with initial for middle name, like `John F. Kennedy` — FredK, Jan 15 '20 at 21:42
@Barmar OK I am done now. sorry for undoing your obviously needed assist yes I added lookbehind. please forgive my weak regex — Gia, Jan 15 '20 at 22:30
How does it work checking these two sentences: `His first name and initial are John F. Kennedy was the 35th president.` — FredK, Jan 16 '20 at 20:59

Gia · Answer 1 · 2020-01-20T05:52:53.060

0

This regex works with some of the abbreviations and correctly recognizes the sentence end markers. Unfortunately, for java string.split I would need the inverse of this function...

 ([!?]+(?=$|\s))|((?<![\d])(?<!etc)(?<!Mr)(?<!mr)(?<!i.e)(?<!Dr)(?<!dr)(?<!Mrs)(?<!mrs)(?<![ A-Z])(?<!Ms)(?<!ms)(?<!Phd)(?<!u\.s)(?<!U\.S)(?<!\.)[.]{1}(?=$|\s))|

edited Jan 20 '20 at 05:52

answered Jan 15 '20 at 22:28

Gia

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Java Regex to detect end of sentence BUT ignore (num)(period) e.g. 15

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