CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaregexstring
kenny
kenny

Reputation: 2040

Regex to find key->value in string

I have a string I need to get array (2 - dim) of key->value pairs.

A "match" is when there is a -> between 2 words, mo spaces before and after ->

For example input string:

skip_me key1->value1 key2->value2 skip_me_2 key3->value3 skip_me_3 skip_me -> also

The result should be array:
key1,value1
key2,value2
key3,value3

This is my code:

Pattern p = Pattern.compile( "\\s*([^(->)]+)->([^(->)]+)\\s*" );
Matcher m = p.matcher("skip_me key1->value1 key2->value2 skip_me_2 key3->value3 skip_me_3");
while( m.find() ) {
  System.out.println( "Key:" + m.group(1) + "Value:" + m.group(2) );
}

My regex is wrong. Please assist.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 3953

Answers (4)

Wirone
Wirone

Reputation: 3373

I think you might use:

Pattern.compile( "\\s*(([^\\s]+)(?=->))->((?<=->)([^\\s]+))\\s*" );

It uses positive lookahead and positive lookbehind to match everything before and after ->.

Not tested in Java, only in Eclipse Regex Util based on your sample string.

Upvotes: 0

phynfo
phynfo

Reputation: 4938

The Part [^(->)]* of your regexp definitely is not what you want. It matches a sequence of characters, not containing any of the characters (, -, > and ).

Upvotes: 0

agent-j
agent-j

Reputation: 27943

Matches word characters (letters, digits, and underscore _)... as many as it can

Pattern.compile( "(\w+)->(\w+)" );

Upvotes: 2

Alexander Pavlov
Alexander Pavlov

Reputation: 32296

Try

Pattern p = Pattern.compile("([^\s]+?)->([^\s]+)");

(did not test in Java).

Upvotes: 1

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