Thread: wildcard delete

Ok so a text file has data per row. But some of the data changes constantly but at least keeps 2 of the same characters within the split section.

MC	Cnj	Jup 	(L)	Tr-Na	00:01am		        [B]14°Ar3'D 	13°Ar49'D[/B]      -3.3
Asc	Sxt	Sun/Sat 	(E)	Tr-Na	00:02am		[B]26°Ge1'D	27°Le1'D[/B]        2.71
Asc	Sqr	Sat 	(E)	Tr-Na	00:05am		        [B]27°Ge05'D	27°Vi45'D[/B]       -0.78
Mon	Tri	Jup/Sat 	(L)	Tr-Na	00:0am		[B]06°Pi47'D	0°Cn47'D[/B]         -2.5
Asc	Sxt	Sun/Sat 	(X)	Tr-Na	00:06am		[B]27°Ge1'D	27°Le1'D[/B]         -0.1
MC	Opp	Nep 	(E)	Tr-Na	00:08am		        [B]6°Ar23'D	         6°Li53'D[/B]          -2.8

That for example.. How do i delete those? Instead of doing scan.ReplaceAll();

The things id like to remove have around them. at the end of each line.

There must be a simpler way.

What's wrong with replaceAll?

Like I said before, I really highly recommend reading up on the Pattern class API, then throwing together a little tiny test program that tests one line at a time. That's exactly what I do, and if you're new to regular expressions, that's exactly what you should be doing too.

Pattern (Java Platform SE 6)

Oh my! Where in the world are you? Here it's only 2:30 PM!

Here is my tiny class that I use for testing regular expressions, maybe it will help you get started:

import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
public class RegularExpressionTest {
 
	public static void main(String... args){
		 Pattern p = Pattern.compile(".*cat.*");
		 Matcher m = p.matcher("cat test");
		 boolean b = m.matches();
 
		 System.out.println(b);
	}
}

That's really what I had in there, haha, don't judge me!

hmm even when using *.D.* it still doesn't want to remove 14°Ar3'D 13°Ar49'D from the file .

FileReader file = new FileReader("AD Converter/temp/update.txt");
	    Scanner scan = new Scanner(file);
 
 
	    int i = 0;
 
	    while (scan.hasNext()) {
	    	data[i] = scan.nextLine();
	    	if(data[i].contains("*.D.*")){
    			data[i] = data[i].replaceAll("*.D.*", "").replace("*.D.*", "");
    		}
}

and yes i had tried your examples and a few on the class API demo. I'm brain damaged lol

Starting to wonder how i got credits and distinctions on my java assignments lol xD

This is how I meant you to use the class I posted:

public class RegularExpressionTest {
 
	public static void main(String... args){
 
		String test = "MC	Cnj	Jup 	(L)	Tr-Na	00:01am		        [B]14°Ar3'D 	13°Ar49'D[/B]      -3.3";
 
		if(test.contains("*.D.*")){
			System.out.println("replacing");
			test = test.replaceAll("*.D.*", "").replace("*.D.*", "");
		}
		else{
			System.out.println("Doesn't contain");
		}
 
		System.out.println(test);
	}
}

Now you can work with a single line, and we can be talking about the same exact code. Does this do what you expect? Where does its behavior differ from what you expect?

The API is your best friend: Java Platform SE 6

Check out the String API, and the contains method. Does it take a String or a regular expression? Also, why are you calling .replaceAll().replace()? Isn't that a bit redundant?

Originally Posted by macko

Don't judge me i'm abit dodgy altho your String test is equal to my data[] array my data[] array is scanning per line which stores it in the String data[i] and then im checking if it contains *.D.*and if so replace. but the problem is it wont pick up the ' character.

But apart from that ye iv'e tried what you've just said.

Yeah I know, what I've posted is just a simplified version of exactly what you're doing. It's doing the exact same thing, it's just easier to work with. Run my code (which is really just your code), and see where exactly it's going wrong. I don't think your first problem is that it won't pick up the ' character.

Are you sure that's working? I think you're missing a couple points when it comes to regular expressions. When I put that into my test program, it takes this String:

"MC	Cnj	Jup 	(L)	Tr-Na	00:01am		        [B]14°Ar3'D 	13°Ar49'D[/B]      -3.3"

And outputs this:

MC	Cnj	Jup 	(L)	Tr-Na	00:01am		        [B 	[/B]      -3.3

That doesn't seem right.