CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaregex
DalNM
DalNM

Reputation: 291

Optional element in regex in java

I have this pattern:

"^([\\d.]+) (\\S+) (\\S+) \\[([\\w:/]+\\s[+\\-]\\d{4})\\] \"(.+?)\" (\\d{3}) (\\d+|\\S+)"

That I use it on the following apache access log entry:

127.0.0.1 - - [16/Jul/2011:20:29:14 +0100] "GET /TestWebPages/MScAIS-SEWN-Search-Optimisation.html HTTP/1.1" 200 5569

Sometime after the 7th element I might or might not have something. E.g.

127.0.0.1 - - [16/Jul/2011:20:29:14 +0100] "GET /TestWebPages/MScAIS-SEWN-Search-Optimisation.html HTTP/1.1" 200 5569 –

Sometimes I have the - at the end and sometime it just doesn’t exists.

How can add this to my pattern? I tried using (\\S{0}) but it did not work!

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1245

Answers (2)

dogbane
dogbane

Reputation: 274838

Try adding: (\\s–){0,1} which means you could have zero or one occurrence of " –"

Upvotes: 2

leifg
leifg

Reputation: 9028

Try the question mark:

\S? (alternative \S{0,1})

or for multiple occurence the asterisk:

\S* (alternative \S{0,})

Upvotes: 0

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