Having trouble with Splitting text
java, split
Solution
`String.split(String regex)` takes a regular-expression pattern. It just so happens that `.` in regex is a metacharacter that matches (almost) any character, hence why `split(".")` doesn't work the way you expected.
You can escape the `.` by preceding it with a backslash. As a Java string literal, this is `"\\."`. The `\` is doubled because `\` itself is a Java escape character. `"\\."` is a `String` of length 2, containing a backslash and a period.
If you're given an arbitrary `String` that is to be matched literally (or if you just don't care to escape them yourself), you can use `Pattern.quote`. It'll make a pattern to literally match a given `String`.
See also
- regular-expressions.info/The Dot Matches (Almost) Any Character
This is provided for educational purposes only:
String text =
"Wait a minute... what?!? Oh yeah! This is awesome!!";
for (String part : text.split("(?<=[.?!]) ")) {
System.out.println(part);
}
This prints:
Wait a minute...
what?!?
Oh yeah!
This is awesome!!
References
- regular-expressions.info/Character Class
Related questions
- How does the regular expression `(?<=#)[^#]+(?=#)` work?
Problem
Here's the code I'm using : ``` public class splitText { public static void main(String[] args) { String x = "I lost my Phone. I shouldn't drive home alone"; String[] result = x.split("."); for (String i : result) { System.out.println(i); } } } ``` Compiles perfectly, but nothing happens at runtime. What am I doing wrong?