Matcher matches() method in Java with Examples

The java.util.regex.Matcher class represents an engine that performs various match operations. There is no constructor for this class you can create/obtain an object of this class using the matches() method of the class java.util.regex.Pattern.

The matches() method of this class matches the string with, the pattern represented by the regular expression (both given while creating this object). In the case of a match, this method returns true else it returns false. For the result of this method to be true, the entire region should have a match.

Example

import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
public class MatchesExample {
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      //Reading String from user
      System.out.println("Enter a String");
      Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
      String input = sc.next();
      //Regular expression to match words that starts with digits
      String regex = "^[0-9].*$";
      //Compiling the regular expression
      Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex);
      //Retrieving the matcher object
      Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(input);
      //verifying whether match occurred
      boolean bool = matcher.matches();
      if(bool) {
         System.out.println("First character is a digit");
      } else{
         System.out.println("First character is not a digit");
      }
   }
}

Output

Enter a String
4hiipla
First character is a digit