CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaregex
Eugene Goldberg
Eugene Goldberg

Reputation: 15564

How to properly replace a character in a string using java regex?

I my java app, I have a following character sequence: b"2 (any single character, followed by a double quote followed by a single-digit number)

I need to replace the double quote with a single quote character. I'm trying this: 

Pattern p = Pattern.compile(".\"d");
Matcher m = p.matcher(initialOutput);
String replacement = m.replaceAll(".'d");

This does not seem to do anything.

What is the right way of doing this?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 30

Answers (1)

shmosel
shmosel

Reputation: 50776

First off, d represents a literal character. You're looking for \d, which represents a numeric digit.

The other issue is that you're replacing variable characters with the string literal ".'d". One solution is to capture the variable portions and reference them in the replacement:

String replacement = initialOutput.replaceAll("(.)\"(\\d)", "$1'$2");

Another approach is to use lookarounds to check the surrounding characters without actually matching them for replacement:

String replacement = initialOutput.replaceAll("(?<=.)\"(?=\\d)", "'");

Upvotes: 1

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