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javaregexnon-greedy

Java split regex non-greedy match not working

Why is non-greedy match not working for me? Take following example:

public String nonGreedy(){
   String str2 = "abc|s:0:\"gef\";s:2:\"ced\"";
   return str2.split(":.*?ced")[0];
}

In my eyes the result should be: abc|s:0:\"gef\";s:2 but it is: abc|s

Solution

  • The .*? in your regex matches any character except \n (0 or more times, matching the least amount possible).

    You can try the regular expression:

    :[^:]*?ced

    On another note, you should use a constant Pattern to avoid recompiling the expression every time, something like:

    private static final Pattern REGEX_PATTERN = 
        Pattern.compile(":[^:]*?ced");

public static void main(String[] args) {
    String input = "abc|s:0:\"gef\";s:2:\"ced\"";
    System.out.println(java.util.Arrays.toString(
        REGEX_PATTERN.split(input)
    )); // prints "[abc|s:0:"gef";s:2, "]"
}