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intellij-idea

Syntax for class filter patterns

I don't understand the syntax of the patterns used in IntelliJ IDEA's menu Run | View Breakpoints... | Catch class filter | Include | Add pattern... and probably many other places in the IDE.

Why does the pattern com.myname.*Tests not match com.myname.mypackage.Tests?

Include pattern Is com.mypackage.Tests included?
com.myname.mypackage.Tests true
com.myname.* true
*Tests true
com.myname.*Tests false

Note that I also unsuccessfully tried:

  • com.myname.**.Tests
  • com.myname.*.Tests
  • com.myname..*.Tests
  • com.myname.**.*.Tests
Solution

  • Unfortunately this is not clear from the UI or documentation:

    * in the middle is not supported. Regular expressions here are limited to exact matches and patterns that begin with * or end with *, for example, *.Foo or java.*.