The following replaces variables of the form <<VAR>>, with values looked up from a Map. You can test it online here
For example, with the following input string
BMI=(<<Weight>>/(<<Height>>*<<Height>>)) * 70
Hi there <<Weight>> was here
and the following variable values
Weight, 42
Height, HEIGHT 51
outputs the following
BMI=(42/(HEIGHT 51*HEIGHT 51)) * 70
Hi there 42 was here
Here's the code
static Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("<<([a-z][a-z0-9]*)>>", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
public static String replaceVarsWithValues(String message, Map<String,String> varValues) {
try {
StringBuffer newStr = new StringBuffer(message);
int lenDiff = 0;
Matcher m = pattern.matcher(message);
while (m.find()) {
String fullText = m.group(0);
String keyName = m.group(1);
String newValue = varValues.get(keyName)+"";
String replacementText = newValue;
newStr = newStr.replace(m.start() - lenDiff, m.end() - lenDiff, replacementText);
lenDiff += fullText.length() - replacementText.length();
}
return newStr.toString();
} catch (Exception e) {
return message;
}
}
public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception {
String testString = "BMI=(<<Weight>>/(<<Height>>*<<Height>>)) * 70\n\nHi there <<Weight>> was here";
HashMap<String,String> values = new HashMap<>();
values.put("Weight", "42");
values.put("Height", "HEIGHT 51");
System.out.println(replaceVarsWithValues(testString, values));
}
and although not requested, you can use a similar approach to replace variables in a string with properties from your application.properties file, though this may already be being done:
private static Pattern patternMatchForProperties =
Pattern.compile("[$][{]([.a-z0-9_]*)[}]", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
protected String replaceVarsWithProperties(String message) {
try {
StringBuffer newStr = new StringBuffer(message);
int lenDiff = 0;
Matcher m = patternMatchForProperties.matcher(message);
while (m.find()) {
String fullText = m.group(0);
String keyName = m.group(1);
String newValue = System.getProperty(keyName);
String replacementText = newValue;
newStr = newStr.replace(m.start() - lenDiff, m.end() - lenDiff, replacementText);
lenDiff += fullText.length() - replacementText.length();
}
return newStr.toString();
} catch (Exception e) {
return message;
}
}
