Java equivalent for Python's str.strip()

Question

Suppose I would like to remove all " surrounding a string. In Python, I would:

>>> s='"Don\'t need the quotes"'
>>> print s
"Don't need the quotes"
>>> print s.strip('"')
Don't need the quotes

And if I want to remove multiple characters, e.g. " and parentheses:

>> s='"(Don\'t need quotes and parens)"'
>>> print s
"(Don't need quotes and parens)"
>>> print s.strip('"()')
Don't need quotes and parens

What's the elegant way to strip a string in Java?

The String class has a replace() method. It should fit your needs. — wuppi, Mar 06 '12 at 12:14
[See here](http://stackoverflow.com/a/2088900/593709) is a detailed discussion. — Adil Soomro, Mar 06 '12 at 12:20

score 12 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 30 '16 at 12:36

12

Suppose I would like to remove all " surrounding a string

The closest equivalent to the Python code is:

s = s.replaceAll("^\"+", "").replaceAll("\"+$", "");

And if I want to remove multiple characters, e.g. " and parentheses:

s = s.replaceAll("^[\"()]+", "").replaceAll("[\"()]+$", "");

If you can use Apache Commons Lang, there's StringUtils.strip().

edited Sep 30 '16 at 12:36

Draken

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answered Mar 06 '12 at 12:23

NPE

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+1 For handling multiple characters as requested. It still creates two new Strings, though. – Adam Matan Mar 06 '12 at 12:28
1

@AdamMatan: I think Common Lang's `StringUtils.strip()` is the preferred method. See my updated answer. – NPE Mar 06 '12 at 12:30

score 6 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 29 '18 at 13:16

The Guava library has a handy utility for it. The library contains CharMatcher.trimFrom(), which does what you want. You just need to create a CharMatcher which matches the characters you want to remove.

Code:

CharMatcher matcher = CharMatcher.is('"');
System.out.println(matcher.trimFrom(s));

CharMatcher matcher2 = CharMatcher.anyOf("\"()");
System.out.println(matcher2.trimFrom(s));

Internally, this does not create any new String, but just calls s.subSequence(). As it also doesn't need Regexps, I guess its the fastest solution (and surely the cleanest and easiest to understand).

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 06 '12 at 12:18

1

In java, you can do it like :

s = s.replaceAll("\"",""),replaceAll("'","")

Also if you only want to replace "Start" and "End" quotes, you can do something like :

s = s.replace("^'", "").replace("'$", "").replace("^\"", "").replace("\"$", "");

OR if simply put :

s = s.replaceAll("^\"|\"$", "").replaceAll("^'|'$", "");

answered Mar 06 '12 at 12:18

Ramandeep Singh

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it have modified my answer accordingly..!! – Ramandeep Singh Mar 06 '12 at 12:23
Wouldn't it be a time waste, creating two new Strings instead of one? – Adam Matan Mar 06 '12 at 12:24
Note that strings are "immutable", thus it is not sufficient to simply do ''' s.replace("\"","") '''. You must reassign the variable 's' to the resulting string 's'. – Ramandeep Singh Mar 06 '12 at 12:33
And the answer u "accepted", did it do any Good than mine..??..i gave u 3 different ways to go around..!!..at least , you can upvote my answer..!! – Ramandeep Singh Mar 06 '12 at 12:36

juergen d · Answer 4 · 2012-03-06T12:28:22.730

0

This replaces " and () at the beginning and end of a string

String str = "\"te\"st\"";
str = str.replaceAll("^[\"\\(]+|[\"\\)]+$", "");

edited Mar 06 '12 at 12:28

answered Mar 06 '12 at 12:14

juergen d

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score -1 · Answer 5 · edited Mar 06 '12 at 12:20

-1

try this:

new String newS = s.replaceAll("\"", "");

replace the double-quote with a no-character String.

edited Mar 06 '12 at 12:20

Adil Soomro

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answered Mar 06 '12 at 12:19

simaremare

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Java equivalent for Python's str.strip()

5 Answers5