CODEWITHSUNDEEP
java
yegor256
yegor256

Reputation: 105053

what am I doing wrong with java.util.Scanner?

This is my Java 1.5 code (complete example):

import org.junit.Test;
import static org.junit.Assert.*;
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
public class StrangeTest {
  @Test
  public void testRegExp() {
    Pattern re = Pattern.compile("(;|:)[^:;]*");
    Scanner scanner = new Scanner(":alpha");
    scanner.useDelimiter("");
    assertEquals(":alpha", scanner.next(re)); // failure
  }
}

What is wrong here?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 370

Answers (3)

Tim
Tim

Reputation: 20732

How do you justify calling scanner.useDelimiter(""); ? Your matchers work fine if you leave it out..

Upvotes: 0

wmitchell
wmitchell

Reputation: 5725

I dont think the Scanner class works the way your expecting..

Scanner scanner = new Scanner(":alpha;beta");
scanner.useDelimiter("(;|:).*?");
System.out.println(scanner.next()); // gives alpha

Upvotes: 1

chiccodoro
chiccodoro

Reputation: 14716

Basically your regular expression matches any string that starts with a :, even if it is only one character: : matches the expression as well as :a, :al,... :alpha. Even :alpha;beta is a match!

With the question mark you appended to your expression you made it non-greedy, i.e. the shortest possible string is matched, which is :.

Remove the question mark to make it greedy:

Pattern re = Pattern.compile("(;|:).*");

However, then it will match :alpha;beta, so you need to indicate that, following the semicolon or colon character, you expect any characters except the semicolon or colon:

Pattern re = Pattern.compile("(;|:)[^;:]*");

Upvotes: 3

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