Lesson: Regular Expressions
This lesson explains how to use the
java.util.regex
API for pattern matching with regular expressions.
Although the syntax accepted by this package
is similar to the
Perl
programming language,
knowledge of Perl
is not a prerequisite.
This lesson starts with the basics, and
gradually builds to cover more advanced techniques.
-
Introduction
-
Provides a general overview of regular expressions. It
also introduces the core classes that comprise this API.
-
Test Harness
-
Defines a simple application for testing pattern matching with regular expressions.
-
String Literals
-
Introduces basic pattern matching, metacharacters,
and quoting.
-
Character Classes
-
Describes simple character classes, negation,
ranges, unions, intersections, and subtraction.
-
Predefined Character Classes
-
Describes the basic predefined character
classes for whitespace, word, and digit characters.
-
Quantifiers
-
Explains greedy, reluctant, and possessive
quantifiers for matching a specified
expression x number of times.
-
Capturing Groups
-
Explains how to treat
multiple characters as a single unit.
-
Boundary Matchers
-
Describes line, word, and input boundaries.
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Methods of the Pattern Class
-
Examines other useful methods of the
Pattern class, and explores advanced features such
as compiling with flags and using embedded flag expressions.
-
Methods of the Matcher Class
-
Describes the commonly-used methods of
the
Matcher class.
-
Methods of the PatternSyntaxException Class
-
Describes how to examine a
PatternSyntaxException.
-
Additional Resources
-
To read more about regular expressions,
consult this section for additional resources.
