Java Regex
The Java Regex or Regular Expression is an API to define a pattern for searching or manipulating strings.
It is widely used to define the constraint on strings such as password and email validation. After learning Java regex tutorial, you will be able to test your regular expressions by the Java Regex Tester Tool.
Java Regex API provides 1 interface and 3 classes in java.util.regex package.
java.util.regex package
The Matcher and Pattern classes provide the facility of Java regular expression. The java.util.regex package provides following classes and interfaces for regular expressions.
- MatchResult interface
- Matcher class
- Pattern class
- PatternSyntaxException class
Matcher class
It implements the MatchResult interface. It is a regex engine which is used to perform match operations on a character sequence.
No. |
Method |
Description |
1 |
boolean matches() |
test whether the regular expression matches the pattern. |
2 |
boolean find() |
finds the next expression that matches the pattern. |
3 |
boolean find(int start) |
finds the next expression that matches the pattern from the given start number. |
4 |
String group() |
returns the matched subsequence. |
5 |
int start() |
returns the starting index of the matched subsequence. |
6 |
int end() |
returns the ending index of the matched subsequence. |
7 |
int groupCount() |
returns the total number of the matched subsequence. |
Pattern class
It is the compiled version of a regular expression. It is used to define a pattern for the regex engine.
No. |
Method |
Description |
1 |
static Pattern compile(String regex) |
compiles the given regex and returns the instance of the Pattern. |
2 |
Matcher matcher(CharSequence input) |
creates a matcher that matches the given input with the pattern. |
3 |
static boolean matches(String regex, CharSequence input) |
It works as the combination of compile and matcher methods. It compiles the regular expression and matches the given input with the pattern. |
4 |
String[] split(CharSequence input) |
splits the given input string around matches of given pattern. |
5 |
String pattern() |
returns the regex pattern. |
Example of Java Regular Expressions
There are three ways to write the regex example in Java.
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Output
Regular Expression . Example
The . (dot) represents a single character.
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Regex Character classes
No. |
Character Class |
Description |
1 |
[abc] |
a, b, or c (simple class) |
2 |
[^abc] |
Any character except a, b, or c (negation) |
3 |
[a-zA-Z] |
a through z or A through Z, inclusive (range) |
4 |
[a-d[m-p]] |
a through d, or m through p: [a-dm-p] (union) |
5 |
[a-z&&[def]] |
d, e, or f (intersection) |
6 |
[a-z&&[^bc]] |
a through z, except for b and c: [ad-z] (subtraction) |
7 |
[a-z&&[^m-p]] |
a through z, and not m through p: [a-lq-z](subtraction) |
Regular Expression Character classes Example
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Regex Quantifiers
The quantifiers specify the number of occurrences of a character.
Regex |
Description |
X? |
X occurs once or not at all |
X+ |
X occurs once or more times |
X* |
X occurs zero or more times |
X{n} |
X occurs n times only |
X{n,} |
X occurs n or more times |
X{y,z} |
X occurs at least y times but less than z times |
Regular Expression Character classes and Quantifiers Example
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Regex Metacharacters
The regular expression metacharacters work as shortcodes.
Regex |
Description |
. |
Any character (may or may not match terminator) |
/d |
Any digits, short of [0-9] |
/D |
Any non-digit, short for [^0-9] |
/s |
Any whitespace character, short for [/t/n/x0B/f/r] |
/S |
Any non-whitespace character, short for [^/s] |
/w |
Any word character, short for [a-zA-Z_0-9] |
/W |
Any non-word character, short for [^/w] |
/b |
A word boundary |
/B |
A non word boundary |
Regular Expression Metacharacters Example
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Regular Expression Question 1
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Regular Expression Question 2
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Java Regex Finder Example
Output:
Enter regex pattern: java
Enter text: this is java, do you know java
I found the text java starting at index 8 and ending at index 12
I found the text java starting at index 26 and ending at index 30
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