CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascala
snappy
snappy

Reputation: 2781

String split behaviour on empty string and on single delimiter string

This is a follow-up to this question.

The question is on the second line below.

"".split("x");   //returns {""}   // ok
"x".split("x");  //returns {}   but shouldn't it return {""} because it's the string before "x" ?
"xa".split("x"); //returns {"", "a"}    // see?, here "" is the first string returned
"ax".split("x"); //returns {"a"}

Upvotes: 8

Views: 1658

Answers (3)

mindriot
mindriot

Reputation: 14289

To include the trailing empty strings, use the other implementation of split.

"".split("x", -1);   // returns {""} - valid - when no match is found, return the original string
"x".split("x", -1);  // returns {"", ""} - valid - trailing empty strings are included in the resultant array {"", ""}
"xa".split("x", -1); // returns {"", "a"} - valid
"ax".split("x", -1); // returns {"a", ""} - valid - trailing empty strings are included in the resultant array {"a", ""}

Upvotes: 0

srkavin
srkavin

Reputation: 1180

As per the java.util.regex.Pattern source, which String.split(..) uses,

"".split("x");   // returns {""} - valid - when no match is found, return the original string
"x".split("x");  // returns {} - valid - trailing empty strings are removed from the resultant array {"", ""}
"xa".split("x"); // returns {"", "a"} - valid - only trailing empty strings are removed
"ax".split("x"); // returns {"a"} - valid - trailing empty strings are removed from the resultant array {"a", ""}

Upvotes: 5

Kim Stebel
Kim Stebel

Reputation: 42047

No, because according to the relevant javadoc "trailing empty strings will be discarded".

Upvotes: 7

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