8

String Processing

Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Read data from the command line
• Search strings
• Parse strings
• Create strings by using a StringBuilder
• Search strings by using regular expressions
• Parse strings by using regular expressions
• Replace strings by using regular expressions

8-2 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 Command-Line Arguments

• Any Java technology application can use command ‑line

arguments.
• These string arguments are placed on the command line to
launch the Java interpreter after the class name:
java TestArgs arg1 arg2 "another arg"
• Each command-line argument is placed in the args array
that is passed to the static main method:
public static void main(String[] args)

8-3 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 Command-Line Arguments

public class TestArgs {

public static void main(String[] args) {
for ( int i = 0; i < args.length; i++ ) {
System.out.println("args[" + i + "] is '" +
args[i] + "'");
}
}
}
Example execution:
java TestArgs "Ted Baxter" 45 100.25
args[0] is 'Ted Baxter'
args[1] is '45'
args[2] is '100.25'

8-4 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 Properties

• The java.util.Properties class is used to load and

save key-value pairs in Java.
• Can be stored in a simple text file:
hostName = www.example.com
userName = user
password = pass

• File name ends in .properties.

• File can be anywhere that compiler can find it.

8-5 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 Loading and Using a Properties File

1 public static void main(String[] args) {

2 Properties myProps = new Properties();
3 try {
4 FileInputStream fis = new
FileInputStream("ServerInfo.properties");
5 myProps.load(fis);
6 } catch (IOException e) {
7 System.out.println("Error: " + e.getMessage());
8 }
9
10 // Print Values
11 System.out.println("Server: " + myProps.getProperty("hostName"));
12 System.out.println("User: " + myProps.getProperty("userName"));
13 System.out.println("Password: " + myProps.getProperty("password"));
14 }

8-6 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 Loading Properties from the Command Line

• Property information can also be passed on the command

line.
• Use the –D option to pass key-value pairs:
java –Dpropertyname=value –Dpropertyname=value myApp

• For example, pass one of the previous values”

java –Dusername=user myApp

• Get the Properties data from the System object:

String userName = System.getProperty("username");

8-7 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 PrintWriter and the Console

The PrintWriter class writes characters instead of bytes.

The class implements all of the print methods found in
PrintStream.

import java.io.PrintWriter;

public class PrintWriterExample {

public static void main(String[] args){
PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(System.out, true);
pw.println("This is some output.");

}
}

8-8 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 printf format

Java provides many ways to format strings:

• printf and String.format

public class PrintfExample {

public static void main(String[] args){
PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(System.out, true);
double price = 24.99; int quantity = 2; String color = "Blue";
System.out.printf("We have %03d %s Polo shirts that cost $
%3.2f.\n", quantity, color, price);
System.out.format("We have %03d %s Polo shirts that cost $
%3.2f.\n", quantity, color, price);
String out = String.format("We have %03d %s Polo shirts that
cost $%3.2f.", quantity, color, price);
System.out.println(out);
pw.printf("We have %03d %s Polo shirts that cost $%3.2f.\n",
quantity, color, price);
}
}

8-9 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 Quiz

Which two of the following are valid formatted print statements?

a. System.out.printf("%s Polo shirts cost $
%3.2f.\n", "Red", "35.00");
b. System.out.format("%s Polo shirts cost $
%3.2f.\n", "Red", "35.00");
c. System.out.println("Red Polo shirts cost
$35.00.\n");
d. System.out.print("Red Polo shirts cost
$35.00.\n");

8 - 10 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 String Processing

• StringBuilder for constructing string

• Built-in string methods
– Searching
– Parsing
– Extracting substring
• Parsing with StringTokenizer

8 - 11 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 StringBuilder and StringBuffer

• StringBuilder and StringBuffer are the preferred

tools when string concatenation is nontrivial.
– More efficient than “+”
• Concurrency
– StringBuilder (not thread-safe)
– StringBuffer (thread-safe)
• Set capacity to the size you actually need.
– Constant buffer resizing can also lead to performance
problems.

8 - 12 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 StringBuilder: Example

public class StringBuilding {

public static void main(String[] args){
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(500);

sb.append(", the lightning flashed and the thunder

rumbled.\n");
sb.insert(0, "It was a dark and stormy night");

sb.append("The lightning struck...\n").append("[ ");

for(int i = 1; i < 11; i++){
sb.append(i).append(" ");
}
sb.append("] times");

System.out.println(sb.toString());
}
}

8 - 13 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Sample String Methods

1 public class StringMethodsExample {

2 public static void main(String[] args){
3 PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(System.out, true);

4 String tc01 = "It was the best of times";

5 String tc02 = "It was the worst of times";
6
7 if (tc01.equals(tc02)){
8 pw.println("Strings match..."); }
9 if (tc01.contains("It was")){
10 pw.println("It was found"); }
11 String temp = tc02.replace("w", "zw");
12 pw.println(temp);
13 pw.println(tc02.substring(5, 12));
14 }
15 }

8 - 14 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Using the split() Method

1 public class StringSplit {

2 public static void main(String[] args){
3 String shirts = "Blue Shirt, Red Shirt, Black Shirt,
Maroon Shirt";
4
5 String[] results = shirts.split(", ");
6 for(String shirtStr:results){
7 System.out.println(shirtStr);
8 }
9 }
10 }

8 - 15 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Parsing with StringTokenizer

1 public class StringTokenizerExample {

2 public static void main(String[] args){
3 String shirts = "Blue Shirt, Red Shirt, Black Shirt, Maroon
Shirt";
4
5 StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer(shirts, ", ");
6
7 while(st.hasMoreTokens()){
8 System.out.println(st.nextToken());
9 }
10 }
11 }

8 - 16 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Scanner
A Scanner can tokenize a string or a stream.
1 public static void main(String[] args) {
2 Scanner s = null;
3 StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(64);
4 String line01 = "1.1, 2.2, 3.3";
5 float fsum = 0.0f;
6
7 s = new Scanner(line01).useDelimiter(", ");
8 try {
9 while (s.hasNextFloat()) {
10 float f = s.nextFloat();
11 fsum += f;
12 sb.append(f).append(" ");
13 }
14 System.out.println("Values found: " + sb.toString());
15 System.out.println("FSum: " + fsum);
16 } catch (Exception e) {
17 System.out.println(e.getMessage());
18 }

8 - 17 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Regular Expressions

• A language for matching strings of text

– Very detailed vocabulary
– Search, extract, or search and replace
• With Java, the backslash (\) is not fun.
• Java objects
– Pattern
– Matcher
– PatternSyntaxException
– java.util.regex

8 - 18 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Pattern and Matcher

• Pattern: Defines a regular expression

• Matcher: Specifies a string to search
1 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
2 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
3
4 public class PatternExample {
5 public static void main(String[] args){
6 String t = "It was the best of times";
7
8 Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("the");
9 Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(t);
10
11 if (matcher.find()) { System.out.println("Found match!"); }
12 }
13 }

8 - 19 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Character Classes

Character Description

. Matches any single character (letter, digit, or special character), except

end-of-line markers

[abc] Would match any “a,” “b,” or “c” in that position

[^abc] Would match any character that is not “a,” “b,” or “c” in that position

[a-c] A range of characters (in this case, “a,” “b,” and “c”)

| Alternation; essentially an “or” indicator

8 - 20 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Character Class: Examples

Target String It was the best of times

Pattern Description Text Matched

w.s Any sequence that starts with a It was the best of

“w” followed by any character times
followed by “s”.
w[abc]s Any sequence that starts with a It was the best of
“w” followed by “a”, “b”, or “c” and times
then “s”.
t[^aeo]mes Any sequence that starts with a It was the best of
“t” followed any character that is times
not “a”, “e”, or “o” followed by
“mes”.

8 - 21 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Character Class Code: Examples

1 public class CustomCharClassExamples {

2 public static void main(String[] args) {
3 String t = "It was the best of times";
4
5 Pattern p1 = Pattern.compile("w.s");
6 Matcher m1 = p1.matcher(t);
7 if (m1.find()) { System.out.println("Found: " + m1.group());
8 }
9
10 Pattern p2 = Pattern.compile("w[abc]s");
11 Matcher m2 = p2.matcher(t);
12 if (m2.find()) { System.out.println("Found: " + m2.group());
13 }
14
15 Pattern p3 = Pattern.compile("t[^eou]mes");
16 Matcher m3 = p3.matcher(t);
17 if (m3.find()) { System.out.println("Found: " + m3.group());
18 }

8 - 22 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Predefined Character Classes

Predefined Character Class Negated Negated Class

Character Character
\d (digit) [0-9] \D [^0-9]

\w (word char) [a-zA-Z0-9_] \W [^a-zA-Z0-9_]

\s (white space) [ \r\t\n\f\0XB] \S [^ \r\t\n\f\0XB]

8 - 23 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Predefined Character Class: Examples

Target String Jo told me 20 ways to San Jose in 15 minutes.

Pattern Description Text Matched

\\d\\d Find any two digits.** Jo told me 20 ways

to San Jose in 15
minutes.
\\sin\\s Find “in” surrounded by two Jo told me 20 ways
spaces and then the next three to San Jose in 15
characters. minutes.
\\Sin\\S Find “in” surrounded by two Jo told me 20 ways
non-space characters and then to San Jose in 15
the next three characters. minutes.

8 - 24 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Quantifiers

Quantifier Description

* The previous character is repeated zero or more times.

+ The previous character is repeated one or more times.

? The previous character must appear once or not at all.

{n} The previous character appears exactly n times.

{m,n} The previous character appears from m to n times.

{m,} The previous character appears m or more times.

(xx){n} This group of characters repeats n times.

8 - 25 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Quantifier: Examples

Target String Longlonglong ago, in a galaxy far far away

Pattern Description Text Matched

ago.* Find “ago” and then 0 or all the Longlonglong ago, in

characters remaining on the line. a galaxy far far away

gal.{3} Match “gal” plus the next three Longlonglong ago, in

characters. This replaces “…” as a galaxy far far away
used in a previous example.
(long){2} Find “long” repeated twice. Longlonglong ago, in
a galaxy far far away

8 - 26 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Greediness

• A regular expression always tries to grab as many

characters as possible.
• Use the ? operator to limit the search to the shortest
possible match.
Target String Longlonglong ago, in a galaxy far far away.

Pattern Description Text Matched

ago.*far A regular expression always Longlonglong ago, in

grabs the most characters a galaxy far far away.
possible.
ago.*?far The “?” character essentially Longlonglong ago, in
turns off greediness. a galaxy far far away.

8 - 27 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Quiz

Which symbol means that the character is repeated one or

more times?
a. *
b. +
c. .
d. ?

8 - 28 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Boundary Matchers

Anchor Description

^ Matches the beginning of a line

$ Matches the end of a line

\b Matches the start or the end of a word

\B Does not match the start or end of a word

8 - 29 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Boundary: Examples

Target String it was the best of times or it was the worst of times

Pattern Description Text Matched

^it.*?times The sequence that starts a line it was the best of

with “it” followed by some times or it was the
characters and “times”, with worst of times
greediness off
\\sit.*times$ The sequence that starts with “it” it was the best of
followed by some characters and times or it was the
ends the line with “times” worst of times
\\bor\\b.{3} Find “or” surrounded by word it was the best of
boundaries, plus the next three times or it was the
characters. worst of times

8 - 30 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Quiz

Which symbol matches the end of a line?

a. *
b. +
c. $
d. ^

8 - 31 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Matching and Groups

Target String [email protected]

Match 3 Parts (george).(washington)@(example.com)

Group Numbers ( 1 ).( 2 )@( 3 )

Pattern (\\S+?)\\.(\\S+?)@(\\S+)

8 - 32 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Using the replaceAll Method

Using the replaceAll method, you can search and replace.

public class ReplacingExample {

public static void main(String[] args){
String header = "<h1>This is an H1</h1>";

Pattern p1 = Pattern.compile("h1");
Matcher m1 = p1.matcher(header);
if (m1.find()){
header = m1.replaceAll("p");
System.out.println(header);
}
}
}

8 - 33 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Summary

In this lesson, you should have learned how to:

• Read data from the command line
• Search strings
• Parse strings
• Create strings by using a StringBuilder
• Search strings by using regular expressions
• Parse strings by using regular expressions
• Replace strings by using regular expressions

8 - 34 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Practice 8-1 Overview:
Parsing Text with split()
This practice covers using the String.split() method to
parse text.

8 - 35 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Practice 8-2 Overview:
Creating a Regular Expression Search Program
This practice covers creating a program that searches through
a text file using a regular expression.

8 - 36 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 Practice 8-3 Overview:
Transforming HTML by Using
Regular Expressions
This practice covers transforming the HTML of a file by using
several regular expressions.

8 - 37 Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.