Splitting string into different arrays of types using regex

Question

What's the easiest and most effective way to spit a string into different arrays of types? Example:

String[] textArr; 
String[] numbersArr;

and if possible a String[] doubleArr and a String[] dateArrayz

//the string I want to split
String splitMe = "Tinus has 99 issues and has to pay $2200.50 for 26 on 2016/10/10";

After it's split it should be

String[] textArr = ["Tinus","has","issues","and","to","pay","for","on"]; 
String[] numbersArr = ["99","26"];
String[] doubleArr = ["2200.50"];
String[] dateArr = ["2016/10/10"];

Tim Biegeleisen · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-21 06:11:43Z

4

I might opt for just splitting the input string by space, and then using a pattern match to check each entry to determine where it belongs:

String splitMe = "Tinus has 99 issues and has to pay $2200.50 for 26 on 2016/10/10";
String[] parts = splitMe.split(" ");
List<String> textList = new ArrayList<>();
List<String> numbersList = new ArrayList<>();
List<String> currencyList = new ArrayList<>();
List<String> dateList = new ArrayList<>();

for (String part : parts) {
    if (part.matches("\\d*")) {
        numbersList.add(part);
    }
    else if (part.matches("\\$\\d*\\.\\d*")) {
        currencyList.add(part);
    }
    else if (part.matches("\\d{4}/\\d{2}/\\d{2}")) {
        dateList.add(part);
    }
    else {
        textList.add(part);
    }
}

I didn't attempt to formally extract a double from the currency. And I also chose to use lists rather than arrays to store the various terms, because this will scale better. I will leave it up to you to fill in the details.

answered Dec 21, 2016 at 6:11

Tim Biegeleisen

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1 Comment

Tinus Jackson Over a year ago

Quick and great answer thanks. I was thinking about using lists rather than arrays.

user671150 · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-21 06:27:14Z

0

You can try something like this:

String splitMe = "Tinus has 99 issues and has to pay $2200.50 for 26 on 2016/10/10";


String[] splitArray = splitMe.split(" ");
System.out.println("splitArray: " + Arrays.toString(splitArray));

String[] tmp = new String[splitArray.length];        

int i = 0;
for (String s : splitArray) {
    if (s.matches("[A-Za-z]+")) {
        tmp[i] = s;
        i++;
    }         
}     

String[] textArr = new String[i];
for (int j = 0; j < textArr.length; j++) {
    textArr[j] = tmp[j];
}

tmp = new String[splitArray.length];

i = 0;
for (String s : splitArray) {
    if (s.matches("[0-9]+")) {
        tmp[i] = s;
        i++;
    } 
}

String[] numbersArr = new String[i];
for (int j = 0; j < numbersArr.length; j++) {
    numbersArr[j] = tmp[j];
}

tmp = new String[splitArray.length];

i = 0;
for (String s : splitArray) {
    if (s.matches("\\$[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+")) {
        tmp[i] = s;
        i++;
    } 
}

String[] doubleArr = new String[i];
for (int j = 0; j < doubleArr.length; j++) {
    doubleArr[j] = tmp[j];
}

tmp = new String[splitArray.length];

i = 0;
for (String s : splitArray) {
    if (s.matches("[0-9]+/[0-9]+/[0-9]+")) {
        tmp[i] = s;
        i++;
    }
}

String[] dateArr = new String[i];
for (int j = 0; j < dateArr.length; j++) {
    dateArr[j] = tmp[j];
}

System.out.println("textArr: " + Arrays.toString(textArr));
System.out.println("numbersArr: " + Arrays.toString(numbersArr));
System.out.println("doubleArr: " + Arrays.toString(doubleArr));
System.out.println("dateArr: " + Arrays.toString(dateArr));

Please note that the regex used are not ideal but they work for your case. I used arrays because I thought it is a strict requirement. You can use lists as well which is better.

answered Dec 21, 2016 at 6:27

user671150

1 Comment

ajb Over a year ago

You're right that using lists is better, and it's better even if you need arrays. In that case, it's best to create an ArrayList and convert it to an array at the end with toArray. Also note that this answer will work a bit different from Tim's, in the way it handles parts that don't fit any of your four regexes (e.g. words that have ' or - characters in them). This isn't right or wrong, since the OP didn't specify whether text parts had to be all letters.

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