I'm trying to split my string with multiple symbols in split() method but it's not working

Question

I'm trying to split my regex but it's not splitting for some reason. Here's my code

String str = "sdef@srdfsrd[es[edf@edfv";
String[] arrOfStr = str.split("\\@\\["); 
for (String a : arrOfStr) 
{
  System.out.println(a);
}

output:

sdef@srdfsrd[es[edf@edfv

expected output:

sdef
srdfsrd
es
edf
edfv

The same problem for:

String[] arrOfStr = str.split(",:");  //not splitting the word at all

Answer 1

"\\@\\[" matches @[, which is not in your string. Change your RegEx to "[@\\[]", which is a character class - that means it will split on either @ or [.

See a demo here :)

Answer 2

Use "@|\\[ instead of \\@\\[

Note that in regex pattern, | works as OR i.e. by using "@|\\[ you are instructing the code to split the given string either on @ OR on [

Alternatively, you can use [@\\[] where [] specifies the character classes.

Demo:

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String str = "sdef@srdfsrd[es[edf@edfv";
        String[] arrOfStr = str.split("@|\\[");
        for (String a : arrOfStr) {
            System.out.println(a);
        }
    }
}

Output:

sdef
srdfsrd
es
edf
edfv