Java how to compare string, String compare problem

Question

I have problem with string comparison in Java. I have 2 nearly similar strings, but they are not equal, because one contains - (44) char and another contains - (8211) char. Can someone help me with case, that this strings are equals. I tried this in code, but it doesn't work:

cellValue.replaceAll("\u0045", "\u8211");
byte[] bytes = cellValue.getBytes(Charset.defaultCharset());
String cellValueUtf8 = new String(bytes, Charset.defaultCharset());

Arvind Kumar Avinash · Answer 1 · 2020-10-22T17:00:15.293

0

Strings are constant; their values cannot be changed after they are created. Thus, String#replaceAll returns a new String i.e. this operation doesn't change cellValue. Also, note that String#replaceAll takes a regex as the first parameter.

You need String#replace, which replaces all occurrences of oldChar in the given string with newChar, instead of String#replaceAll.

Replace

cellValue.replaceAll("\u0045", "\u8211");

with

cellValue = cellValue.replace('\u0045', '\u8211');

in order for the changed value to be assigned to cellValue.

edited Oct 22 '20 at 17:00

answered Oct 22 '20 at 16:20

Arvind Kumar Avinash

71,965
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I tryed to give there cellValue = cellValue.replaceAll("\u0045", "\u8211");, but it is without effect. – Petr Kostroun Oct 22 '20 at 16:35
@PetrKostroun - please check the updated answer. – Arvind Kumar Avinash Oct 22 '20 at 16:53

score -1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 22 '20 at 16:53

-1

I wrote this method, and it works as I expect:

public static String normalizeDashChar(String toNormalize) {
    char[] bytes = toNormalize.toCharArray();
    for(int i = 0; i < bytes.length; i++) {
        if(bytes[i] == (char)45) {
            bytes[i] = (char)8211;
        }
    }

    return new String(bytes);
}

answered Oct 22 '20 at 16:53

Petr Kostroun

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9
27

You do not need to reinvent the wheel. `String#replace` will do your job. Check [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/64486404/10819573) for the explanation. Note that I've not downvoted your answer . – Arvind Kumar Avinash Oct 22 '20 at 16:55

Java how to compare string, String compare problem

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