how could i remove arabic punctuation form a String in java

Question

i am working on an arabic dictionary and i am getting sentences like
String original = "'أَبَنَ فُلانًا: عَابَه ورَمَاه بخَلَّة سَوء.'"; from my database but i cant process the sentence without removing the accents and punctuation

i tried using

import java.text.Normalizer;
import java.text.Normalizer.Form;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;

public static String deAccent(String str) {
    String nfdNormalizedString = Normalizer.normalize(str, Normalizer.Form.NFD); 
    Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("\\p{InCombiningDiacriticalMarks}+");
    return pattern.matcher(nfdNormalizedString).replaceAll("");
} 

but it didnt work

Answer 1

In my case this solution is working. I have tried lots of solutions, but none were working properly.

String diacless = Normalizer.normalize(textWithDiacritics, Normalizer.Form.NFKD).replaceAll("\\p{M}", "");
Log.d("diac_remove", "replaced: "+diacless);

Answer 2

You can use this :

String withDiacritics = "طَائِفِيّةٌ";
String withoutDiacritics = withDiacritics.replaceAll("(ّ)?(َ)?(ً)?(ُ)?(ٌ)?(ِ)?(ٍ)?(~)?(ْ)?", "");

Output will be like : "طائفية".

Answer 3

I found much better to do that. Big thanks to joop for the tips.

import java.text.Normalizer;
import java.text.Normalizer.Form;

/**
 *
 * @author Ibbtek <http://ibbtek.altervista.org/>
 */
public class ArabicDiacritics {

    private String input;
    private final String output;

    /**
     * ArabicDiacritics constructor
     * @param input String
     */
    public ArabicDiacritics(String input){
        this.input=input;
        this.output=normalize();
    }

    /**
     * normalize Method
     * @return String
     */
    private String normalize(){

        input = Normalizer.normalize(input, Form.NFKD)
                .replaceAll("\\p{M}", "");

        return input;
    }

    /**
     * @return the output
     */
    public String getOutput() {
        return output;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String test = "كَلَّا لَا تُطِعْهُ وَاسْجُدْ وَاقْتَرِبْ ۩";
        System.out.println("Before: "+test);
        test=new ArabicDiacritics(test).getOutput();
        System.out.println("After: "+test);
    }
}

Answer 4

Try this code, it works fine on my projects:

/**
 * ArabicNormalizer class
 * @author Ibrabel <ibrabel@gmail.com>
 */
public final class ArabicNormalizer {

    private String input;
    private final String output;

    /**
     * ArabicNormalizer constructor
     * @param input String
     */
    public ArabicNormalizer(String input){
        this.input=input;
        this.output=normalize();
    }

    /**
     * normalize Method
     * @return String
     */
    private String normalize(){

        //Remove honorific sign
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0610", "");//ARABIC SIGN SALLALLAHOU ALAYHE WA SALLAM
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0611", "");//ARABIC SIGN ALAYHE ASSALLAM
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0612", "");//ARABIC SIGN RAHMATULLAH ALAYHE
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0613", "");//ARABIC SIGN RADI ALLAHOU ANHU
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0614", "");//ARABIC SIGN TAKHALLUS

        //Remove koranic anotation
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0615", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH TAH
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0616", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH LIGATURE ALEF WITH LAM WITH YEH
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0617", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH ZAIN
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0618", "");//ARABIC SMALL FATHA
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0619", "");//ARABIC SMALL DAMMA
        input=input.replaceAll("\u061A", "");//ARABIC SMALL KASRA
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06D6", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH LIGATURE SAD WITH LAM WITH ALEF MAKSURA
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06D7", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH LIGATURE QAF WITH LAM WITH ALEF MAKSURA
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06D8", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH MEEM INITIAL FORM
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06D9", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH LAM ALEF
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06DA", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH JEEM
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06DB", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH THREE DOTS
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06DC", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH SEEN
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06DD", "");//ARABIC END OF AYAH
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06DE", "");//ARABIC START OF RUB EL HIZB
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06DF", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH ROUNDED ZERO
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06E0", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH UPRIGHT RECTANGULAR ZERO
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06E1", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH DOTLESS HEAD OF KHAH
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06E2", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH MEEM ISOLATED FORM
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06E3", "");//ARABIC SMALL LOW SEEN
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06E4", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH MADDA
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06E5", "");//ARABIC SMALL WAW
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06E6", "");//ARABIC SMALL YEH
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06E7", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH YEH
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06E8", "");//ARABIC SMALL HIGH NOON
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06E9", "");//ARABIC PLACE OF SAJDAH
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06EA", "");//ARABIC EMPTY CENTRE LOW STOP
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06EB", "");//ARABIC EMPTY CENTRE HIGH STOP
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06EC", "");//ARABIC ROUNDED HIGH STOP WITH FILLED CENTRE
        input=input.replaceAll("\u06ED", "");//ARABIC SMALL LOW MEEM

        //Remove tatweel
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0640", "");

        //Remove tashkeel
        input=input.replaceAll("\u064B", "");//ARABIC FATHATAN
        input=input.replaceAll("\u064C", "");//ARABIC DAMMATAN
        input=input.replaceAll("\u064D", "");//ARABIC KASRATAN
        input=input.replaceAll("\u064E", "");//ARABIC FATHA
        input=input.replaceAll("\u064F", "");//ARABIC DAMMA
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0650", "");//ARABIC KASRA
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0651", "");//ARABIC SHADDA
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0652", "");//ARABIC SUKUN
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0653", "");//ARABIC MADDAH ABOVE
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0654", "");//ARABIC HAMZA ABOVE
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0655", "");//ARABIC HAMZA BELOW
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0656", "");//ARABIC SUBSCRIPT ALEF
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0657", "");//ARABIC INVERTED DAMMA
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0658", "");//ARABIC MARK NOON GHUNNA
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0659", "");//ARABIC ZWARAKAY
        input=input.replaceAll("\u065A", "");//ARABIC VOWEL SIGN SMALL V ABOVE
        input=input.replaceAll("\u065B", "");//ARABIC VOWEL SIGN INVERTED SMALL V ABOVE
        input=input.replaceAll("\u065C", "");//ARABIC VOWEL SIGN DOT BELOW
        input=input.replaceAll("\u065D", "");//ARABIC REVERSED DAMMA
        input=input.replaceAll("\u065E", "");//ARABIC FATHA WITH TWO DOTS
        input=input.replaceAll("\u065F", "");//ARABIC WAVY HAMZA BELOW
        input=input.replaceAll("\u0670", "");//ARABIC LETTER SUPERSCRIPT ALEF

        return input;
    }

    /**
     * @return the output
     */
    public String getOutput() {
        return output;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String test = "كَلَّا لَا تُطِعْهُ وَاسْجُدْ وَاقْتَرِبْ ۩";
        System.out.println("Before: "+test);
        test=new ArabicNormalizer(test).getOutput();
        System.out.println("After: "+test);
    }
}

Answer 5

Why don't you just go for the Unicode punctuation / mark, non-spacing categories?

Not sure of your expected result as it's not posted - and I can't read Arabic :), but try this code:

String input = "'أَبَنَ فُلانًا: عَابَه ورَمَاه بخَلَّة سَوء.'";
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("[\\p{P}\\p[Mn]");
Matcher m = p.matcher(input);
while (m.find()) {
    System.out.println("found: " + m.group());
}
m.reset();
System.out.println("Replaced: " + m.replaceAll(" "));

Output:

found: '
found: َ
found: َ
found: َ
found: ُ
found: ً
found: :
found: َ
found: َ
found: َ
found: َ
found: َ
found: ّ
found: َ
found: َ
found: .
found: '
Replaced:  أ ب ن  ف لان ا  ع اب ه ور م اه بخ ل  ة س وء  

I suppose it's not your desired final result, but I hope it's something you can work with.

Also, this is a gold mine of information on the Unicode categories. I believe most are applicable in a Java Pattern.