Can't do str.split("|") ?

[spoken]

Hi,

I'm trying to read a file with data seperated by "|" character.
Ex:
3578.27|2001|Road Bikes|Metchosin|Canada
3399.99|2001|Mountain Bikes|Pantin|France
3399.99|2001|Mountain Bikes|Lebanon|United States

After reading the first line, I'm trying to split the string into an array by doing

String[] x = str.split("|");
 

However java see "|" as an alternation rather than a regex delimiter for my string.

And I cannot change the data file because it has over 3000 lines.

Regards,
Gordon

[JosAH]

The '|' character is special to the regular expression compiler so you should escape
it with a '\' (backslash), but then again the backslash is also special to the Java
compiler (javac) so you should escape it twice; use "\\|"

kind regards,

Jos

[hirak1984]

If the trailing fields are optional, you need to write:

line.split("\\|",-1);

demo:

import java.util.Arrays;
 
public class Splitsville {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String[] data = {
            "a|b|c|d|e",
            "||||",
            "||c||"
        };
        for(String line : data) {
            String[] tokens = line.split("\\|");
            System.out.println("split: " + Arrays.toString(tokens));
            String[] tokens2 = line.split("\\|",-1);
            System.out.println("split  with -1: " + Arrays.toString(tokens2));
        }
    }
}

[r035198x]

Hi,

I'm trying to read a file with data seperated by "|" character.
Ex:
3578.27|2001|Road Bikes|Metchosin|Canada
3399.99|2001|Mountain Bikes|Pantin|France
3399.99|2001|Mountain Bikes|Lebanon|United States

After reading the first line, I'm trying to split the string into an array by doing

String[] x = str.split("|");
 

However java see "|" as an alternation rather than a regex delimiter for my string.

And I cannot change the data file because it has over 3000 lines.

Regards,
Gordon

Escape the special character using \\
i.e split("\\|");

[r035198x]

first of all, this is not a solution. It is a suggestion rather.

String str = "3578.27|2001|Road Bikes|Metchosin|Canada";
        String str1 = str.replace("|", ",");
        String[] x = str1.split("'");
        int i=0;
        while (i<x.length){
        System.out.println(x[i++]);
        }
 

What if there are words with ' in them?

[hirak1984]

actually this works:

Str.split("\\|");
 

[r035198x]

actually this works:

Str.split("\\|");
 

Yes. That's the third time that that is being said. The explanation is in the first reply.

[spoken]

Thank you all for your replies.

Yes,
str.split("\\|");
works perfectly.

Thanks again.. :D