java regex for finding the matching string

Question

My string pattern is

"hbfj-nbsp-nbsp-wsefj-f-ejsf-sdfh-sjkf-df-sdjfk-sdfhb-jdgh-nbsp-djg-hdr"

I have tried this pattern "(\\w+)-(\\w+)-(\\w+)-(\\w+)" but it gives exact match. Required is match 0 to 3 times "hbfj-" these type of string.

Could you show expected output/result? Is it only one result or you want to somehow split it? — Pshemo
– Pshemo, Commented Aug 8, 2013 at 14:22
For "a-b-c", should it capture "a-b-" or the whole thing? — Bernhard Barker
– Bernhard Barker, Commented Aug 8, 2013 at 14:29
expected out put "hbfj-nbsp-nbsp-wsefj" , if string is hbfj-nbsp-nbsp then "hbfj-nbsp-nbsp" — Ashish Chaurasia
– Ashish Chaurasia, Commented Aug 8, 2013 at 14:30

Сашка724ая · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-08 14:39:23Z

2

Try use this regex: string.matches("^(\\w+(-|$)){0,3}$")

answered Aug 8, 2013 at 14:20

Сашка724ая

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1 Comment

expected out put "hbfj-nbsp-nbsp-wsefj" , if string is hbfj-nbsp-nbsp then "hbfj-nbsp-nbsp", it returns boolean expecting substring

Bohemian · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-11 21:11:17Z

1

I think you want to extract the first hyphen separated words (up to 4):

String words = str.replaceAll("^(\\w+(-\\w){0,3})?.*", "$1");

This will return a blank if nothing suitable found.

answered Jan 11, 2014 at 21:11

Bohemian♦

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