Android loop through string to color specific words

Question

I have a string that has specific words I want to color. Those words are the one's that start with #.

    if(title.contains("#")){

        SpannableString WordtoSpan = new SpannableString(title);   

        int idx = title.indexOf("#");
        if (idx >= 0) {

            Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("[ ,\\.\\n]");
            Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(title);
            int wordEnd = matcher.find(idx)? matcher.start() : -1;

            if (wordEnd < 0) {
                wordEnd = title.length();
            }
            WordtoSpan.setSpan(new ForegroundColorSpan(Color.BLUE),
                        idx,
                        wordEnd,
                        Spannable.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);
        }           

        holder.txtTitle.setText(WordtoSpan);
    } else {
        holder.txtTitle.setText(title);
    }

Now lets take for example this string Bold part is for example the colored words.

I love cheese #burgers, and with #ketchup.

^ This is my current thing with my code. What I want is to color every # word, not just first one.

ex. It'll be like

I love cheese #burgers, and with #ketchup.

I think I need to loop? But couldn't get it clearly and working x.x

Update: Latest try. List becomes blank.

    SpannableString WordtoSpan = new SpannableString(title);

    int end = 0;

    Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("[ ,\\.\\n]");
    Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(title);

    int i = title.indexOf("#");

    for (i = 0; i < title.length(); i++) {
    if (i >= 0) {

        int wordEnd = matcher.find(i)? matcher.start() : -1;

        if (wordEnd < 0) {
            wordEnd = title.length();
        }
        WordtoSpan.setSpan(new ForegroundColorSpan(Color.BLUE),
                    i,
                    wordEnd,
                    Spannable.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);

        i = end;
    }    

    holder.txtTitle.setText(WordtoSpan);
    }

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:30:18Z

8

+50

I had provided this answer earlier here - https://stackoverflow.com/a/20179879/3025732

String text = "I love chicken #burger , cuz they are #delicious";
//get the text from TextView

Pattern HASHTAG_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("#(\\w+|\\W+)");
Matcher mat = HASHTAG_PATTERN.matcher(text);

while (mat.find()) {
  String tag = mat.group(0);

  //String tag will contain the hashtag
  //do operations with the hashtag (change color)
}

[EDIT]

I've modified the code and done it according to what you need:

SpannableString hashText = new SpannableString(text.getText().toString());
Matcher matcher = Pattern.compile("#([A-Za-z0-9_-]+)").matcher(hashText);
while (matcher.find())
{
     hashText.setSpan(new ForegroundColorSpan(Color.BLUE), matcher.start(), matcher.end(), 0);
}
text.setText(hashText);

Here's a screenshot of it:

enter image description here

edited May 23, 2017 at 10:30

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Nov 27, 2013 at 19:21

Joel Fernandes

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2 Comments

John Jared Over a year ago

But I dont know how to "do the operation", I'm a beginner, trying to develop with my bro. So how to supply end, start etc..

Joel Fernandes Over a year ago

@JohnJared Please check my updated answer with the code sample you wanted

Vikram · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-27 19:14:33Z

4

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned this:

// String you want to perform on
String toChange = "I love cheese #burgers, and with #ketchup.";

// Matches all characters, numbers, underscores and dashes followed by '#'
// Does not match '#' followed by space or any other non word characters
toChange = toChange.replaceAll("(#[A-Za-z0-9_-]+)", 
                         "<font color='#0000ff'>" + "$0" +  "</font>");

// Encloses the matched characters with html font tags

// Html#fromHtml(String) returns a Spanned object
holder.txtTitle.setText(Html.fromHtml(toChange));

#0000ff ==>> Color.BLUE

Screenshot:

enter image description here

edited Nov 27, 2013 at 19:14

answered Nov 27, 2013 at 18:59

Vikram

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13 Comments

Vikram Over a year ago

@JohnJared Added a screenshot above. Could the problem be somewhere else in your code?

John Jared Over a year ago

Umm, found out why. Cuz in my app I have arabic letter with # thats i why, but when I changed arabic to eng they worked. How can I make it color arabic words too?

John Jared Over a year ago

أ ب ت ث ج ح خ د ذ ل ز ر ع غ ف ق س ش ص ض ط ظ م ر ه ن و ي

John Jared Over a year ago

I should wait 16 hrs, after 16 hrz ill give u the +50, thanks!

John Jared Over a year ago

Nope, but I gave that person +50 by mistake x.x sorry. I'll start another bounty on the next question I ask and I will reward you it. I am very sorry

|

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:26:27Z

1

You need to loop through your matches. There is a previous post you can have a look at here:

Finding Multiple Integers Inside A String Using Regex

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:26

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Nov 25, 2013 at 12:38

Anders Ludvigsson

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2 Comments

John Jared Over a year ago

It's fine to find them(I can use .split("#"), but how to find them and color them inside the string at the same time?

Anders Ludvigsson Over a year ago

if(title.contains("#")){ Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(title); while ( matcher.find() ) { //do ForegroundcolorSpan etc } }

Eldhose M Babu · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-27 18:00:20Z

1

Check following example :

String title = "Your #complete sentence #testing #test.";
printUsingNormal(title);
printUsingRegex(title);

private static void printUsingRegex(String title) {
    Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("[ ,\\.\\n]");

    int start = 0;
    int end = 0;
    Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(title);
    while (end >= 0 && end < title.length()) {
        start = title.indexOf('#', start);
        if (start > 0) {
            end = matcher.find(start) ? matcher.start() : -1;
            if (end > 0) {
                System.out.println("Word : " + title.substring(start, end)
                        + " Start : " + start + " End : " + end);
                start = end;
            }
        } else {
            break;
        }
    }
}

private static void printUsingNormal(String title) {
    int start = 0;
    for (int i = 0; i < title.length(); i++) {
        char c = title.charAt(i);
        if (c == '#') {
            start = i; // Got the starting hash
            int end = title.indexOf(' ', i + 1); // Finding the next space.
            if (end > 0) {
                System.out.println("Word : " + title.substring(start, end)
                        + " Start : " + start + " End : " + end);
                i = end;
            } else {
                end=title.length()-1;
                System.out.println("Word : " + title.substring(start, end)
                        + " Start : " + start + " End : " + end);
                i = end;
            }
        }
    }
}

edited Nov 27, 2013 at 18:00

answered Nov 27, 2013 at 12:35

Eldhose M Babu

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3 Comments

Eldhose M Babu Over a year ago

Please find my updated answer above. which uses both regex and direct way.

John Jared Over a year ago

Umm, now I'm confused. How do I use it now? Can you do the regex way with the old answer ?(so regex+the loop int i)

John Jared Over a year ago

please check my latest try in my answer's update. See what I mean, and what Am I missing.

VenomVendor · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-25 12:58:21Z

0

Use while(), this is the snippet for setting the background color of text searched in android native messenger, you can try the same in your code.

answered Nov 25, 2013 at 12:58

VenomVendor

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1 Comment

John Jared Over a year ago

check my updated question, I tried using while. Now nothing appears on the list.

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