The JavaTM Tutorial

| Start of Tutorial > Start of Trail | Search Feedback Form

Trail: Bonus

## Lesson: Regular Expressions

### by Scott A. Hommel

> > Note: This lesson covers an API introduced in the latest release of the JavaTM 2 Platform Standard Edition, version 1.4. Visit the J2SE 1.4 download page.

> This lesson explains how to use the ``java.util.regex`` API for pattern matching with regular expressions. This lesson does not assume the that you have any previous experience with regular expressions. Although the syntax of regular expressions that this package accepts is similar to Perl, knowledge of the Perl programming language is not a prerequisite. This lesson starts with the basics, and gradually builds to cover more advanced techniques.

> > Note: We recommend that you open `java.util.regex` API specification in a separate browser window. You may want to consult it throughout this lesson.

> Introduction
>   Gives a general overview of regular expressions. It also introduces the core classes that comprise the regex API.

> Test Harness
>   Defines reusable code for testing and explores 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 create groups so that you can treat multiple characters as a single unit.

> Boundary Matchers
>   Describes line, word, and input boundaries.

> 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.

| Start of Tutorial > Start of Trail | Search Feedback Form

Copyright 1995-2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.