Since the rise of Perl, every computer language suffers from Regular Expression-envy. Well, no more -- JDK 1.4 now comes with a full-featured regex implementation.
This e-doc starts out with a detailed exposition on regular expressions -- what they are, what they are useful for, and how they are implemented within Java. Then, four simple examples are implemented -- first in Perl, and then, identically, in Java. Finally, two more substantial programs, in Java only, round out the tutorial.
This e-doc will show you how to:
- Understand regular expressions
- Match strings and substrings against a pattern
- Pull matched components out of strings
Sample programs included in this chapter: (In both Perl and Java)
- Find the longest word in a line of text
- Parse a tab-delimited file
- A simple command-line interpreter
- Parsing and inspecting proper names
Other sample program included in this chapter: (Java only)
- A simple HTML templating system
- A data-driven lexical analyzer