Extract string between two strings in java

I try to get string between <%= and %>, here is my implementation:

String str = "ZZZZL <%= dsn %> AFFF <%= AFG %>";
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("<%=(.*?)%>");
String[] result = pattern.split(str);
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(result));

it return

[ZZZZL ,  AFFF ]

But my expectation is:

[ dsn , AFG ]

Where am i wrong and how to correct it ?


Solution 1:

Your pattern is fine. But you shouldn't be split()ting it away, you should find() it. Following code gives the output you are looking for:

String str = "ZZZZL <%= dsn %> AFFF <%= AFG %>";
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("<%=(.*?)%>", Pattern.DOTALL);
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(str);
while (matcher.find()) {
    System.out.println(matcher.group(1));
}

Solution 2:

I have answered this question here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/38238785/1773972

Basically use

StringUtils.substringBetween(str, "<%=", "%>");

This requirs using "Apache commons lang" library: https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.commons/commons-lang3/3.4

This library has a lot of useful methods for working with string, you will really benefit from exploring this library in other areas of your java code !!!