How to split a string, but also keep the delimiter

Question

I have a multiline string which is delimited by a set of different delimiters:

(Text1)(DelimiterA)(Text2)(DelimiterC)(Text3)(DelimiterB)(Text4)

I can split this string into its parts, using String.split, but it seems that I can't get the actual string, which matched the delimiter regex.

In other words, this is what I get:

• Text1
• Text2
• Text3
• Text4

This is what I want

• Text1
• DelimiterA
• Text2
• DelimiterC
• Text3
• DelimiterB
• Text4

Is there any JDK way to split the string using a delimiter regex but also keep the delimiters?

Answer 1

I suggest using Pattern and Matcher, which will almost certainly achieve what you want. Your regular expression will need to be somewhat more complicated than what you are using in String.split.

Answer 2

Fast answer: use non physical bounds like \b to split. I will try and experiment to see if it works (used that in PHP and JS).

It is possible, and kind of work, but might split too much. Actually, it depends on the string you want to split and the result you need. Give more details, we will help you better.

Another way is to do your own split, capturing the delimiter (supposing it is variable) and adding it afterward to the result.

My quick test:

String str = "'ab','cd','eg'";
String[] stra = str.split("\\b");
for (String s : stra) System.out.print(s + "|");
System.out.println();

Result:

'|ab|','|cd|','|eg|'|

A bit too much... :-)

Answer 3

Another candidate solution using a regex. Retains token order, correctly matches multiple tokens of the same type in a row. The downside is that the regex is kind of nasty.

package javaapplication2;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;

public class JavaApplication2 {

    /**
     * @param args the command line arguments
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String num = "58.5+variable-+98*78/96+a/78.7-3443*12-3";

        // Terrifying regex:
        //  (a)|(b)|(c) match a or b or c
        // where
        //   (a) is one or more digits optionally followed by a decimal point
        //       followed by one or more digits: (\d+(\.\d+)?)
        //   (b) is one of the set + * / - occurring once: ([+*/-])
        //   (c) is a sequence of one or more lowercase latin letter: ([a-z]+)
        Pattern tokenPattern = Pattern.compile("(\\d+(\\.\\d+)?)|([+*/-])|([a-z]+)");
        Matcher tokenMatcher = tokenPattern.matcher(num);

        List<String> tokens = new ArrayList<>();

        while (!tokenMatcher.hitEnd()) {
            if (tokenMatcher.find()) {
                tokens.add(tokenMatcher.group());
            } else {
                // report error
                break;
            }
        }

        System.out.println(tokens);
    }
}

Sample output:

[58.5, +, variable, -, +, 98, *, 78, /, 96, +, a, /, 78.7, -, 3443, *, 12, -, 3]

Answer 4

I know this is a very-very old question and answer has also been accepted. But still I would like to submit a very simple answer to original question. Consider this code:

String str = "Hello-World:How\nAre You&doing";
inputs = str.split("(?!^)\\b");
for (int i=0; i<inputs.length; i++) {
   System.out.println("a[" + i + "] = \"" + inputs[i] + '"');
}

OUTPUT:

a[0] = "Hello"
a[1] = "-"
a[2] = "World"
a[3] = ":"
a[4] = "How"
a[5] = "
"
a[6] = "Are"
a[7] = " "
a[8] = "You"
a[9] = "&"
a[10] = "doing"

I am just using word boundary \b to delimit the words except when it is start of text.

Answer 5

    String expression = "((A+B)*C-D)*E";
    expression = expression.replaceAll("\\+", "~+~");
    expression = expression.replaceAll("\\*", "~*~");
    expression = expression.replaceAll("-", "~-~");
    expression = expression.replaceAll("/+", "~/~");
    expression = expression.replaceAll("\\(", "~(~"); //also you can use [(] instead of \\(
    expression = expression.replaceAll("\\)", "~)~"); //also you can use [)] instead of \\)
    expression = expression.replaceAll("~~", "~");
    if(expression.startsWith("~")) {
        expression = expression.substring(1);
    }

    String[] expressionArray = expression.split("~");
    System.out.println(Arrays.toString(expressionArray));