How to find text between less and greater than, then strip the <> in Java?

Question

I don't know how to find these words.. example I have this text...

The other day I went to the <location> and bought some <plural-noun> . Afterwards, I went to <location> , but it was very <adjective> so I left quickly and went to <location> .

I don't know what to search cause when I search < and > on google, it will be ignored. Need help how to get this string.

so I will get the <location>, <plural-noun>, <location>, <adjective>, <location>

I must use the charAt() method. My attempt:

String string = this.fileName;
for(int i = 0; i < string.length(); i++)
                if((string.charAt(i) == '<') && (string.charAt(i) == '>'))
                    System.println(""); //<-------- IM STUCK HERE

I don't know... almost two days no sleep.

My current but one last problem... How to remove < and > on each word on display?

String string = this.template;
        Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("<.*?>");
        Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(string);

        List<String> listMatches = new ArrayList<String>();

        while(matcher.find()) {
            listMatches.add(matcher.group());
        }
        // System.out.println(listMatches.size());
        int indexNumber = 1;
         for(String s : listMatches) {
             System.out.println(Integer.toString(indexNumber) + ". " + s);
             indexNumber++;
         }

Why do you have to use the charAt() method? This can be solved using regular expressions. — Brad, Oct 04 '15 at 06:52

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 04 '15 at 06:05

5

You can use Pattern and Matcher classes.

Search for regex Pattern <.*?>.
Find the pattern with Matcher.

answered Oct 04 '15 at 06:05

hata

8,429
5
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Why not `<.>` for the pattern? – Dawood ibn Kareem Oct 04 '15 at 06:45
how do I match it using this? `Pattern.compile("\\[(.*?)\\]");` I want only `` – Storm Spirit Oct 04 '15 at 06:45
Not working on this... `Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("<.>");` – Storm Spirit Oct 04 '15 at 06:46
it's working... do you know how to remove `` on each string? – Storm Spirit Oct 04 '15 at 06:54
If you don't want the angle brackets, you could try lookaheads and lookbehinds. I think the correct expression would be `Pattern.compile("(?<=)")` – Dawood ibn Kareem Oct 04 '15 at 07:05
@DavidWallace i want it because I will change the string on that base on user inputs. But on displaying first I must not show the `` is that possible? or I will use this again and more code... – Storm Spirit Oct 04 '15 at 07:12
I don't understand your comment - but the expression I gave will allow you to search for words WITH the madonnas, but give the result WITHOUT the madonnas. So in the String `apple cherry` it will match `banana`. Isn't that what you want? – Dawood ibn Kareem Oct 04 '15 at 07:15

Brad · Answer 2 · 2015-10-04T07:16:44.523

2

There are really two questions here, so I'll answer only the last one; when you have the <text> that you want, go like this:

String text = "<the_text_you_want>";

text.replace("<","").replace(">","").replace("-"," ");

That will get rid of the delimiters.

edited Oct 04 '15 at 07:16

answered Oct 04 '15 at 07:08

Brad

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thanks, do you know how to change `plural-noun` into `plural noun` ? – Storm Spirit Oct 04 '15 at 07:15
2

`Thanks for the feedback! Once you earn a total of 15 reputation, your votes will change the publicly displayed post score.` can't upvote sorry dude... I will upvote if I reach 15 – Storm Spirit Oct 04 '15 at 07:32

Spikatrix · Answer 3 · 2015-10-04T06:44:24.203

Read the whole line and store it in, say String line. Then, use:

String line = "The other day I went to the <location> and bought some <plural-noun> . Afterwards, I went to <location> , but it was very <adjective> so I left quickly and went to <location> ."; 

boolean found = false;
String data[] = new String[20];
int counter = 0;

Arrays.fill(data, "");

for(int i = 0; i < line.length() && counter < 20; i++) {
    if(line.charAt(i) == '<')
        found = true;
    else if(line.charAt(i) == '>' && found) {
        found = false;
        counter++;
    }
    else if(found) {
        data[counter] += line.charAt(i);
    }
}

for(int i = 0; i < counter; i++)
    System.out.println("Scanned data #" + (i + 1) + " = " + data[i]);

How to find text between less and greater than, then strip the <> in Java?

3 Answers3