Html "img" tag impossible to delete

Question

Hi!
I process .html files, and I want to delete all the tags. I do it with .replaceAll("\\<(.)*?\\>", " ")
It is rather successful, and all of the tags are deleted except for img tags. What could be a reason?
Thanks!

Answer 1

For these problems, MULTILINE mode, which matches \nx with $^, is irrelevant.
You should consider using DOTALL mode for matching a regexp '.' with '\n'.
And you should consider which you are going to choose between greedy mode and
reluctant mode.
import java.util.regex.*;
public class TagRgx{
  public static void main(String[] args){
    Pattern patt1 = Pattern.compile("<[^>]*>");
    Pattern patt2 = Pattern.compile("<.*>");
    Pattern patt3 = Pattern.compile("<.*>", Pattern.DOTALL);
    Pattern patt4 = Pattern.compile("<.*?>");
    Pattern patt5 = Pattern.compile("<.*?>", Pattern.DOTALL);
    String html
= "This is <b>a test</b>. <img src=foo.jpg\nwidth=1 height=1>. End test.";
    System.out.println("1: " + patt1.matcher(html).replaceAll(""));
    System.out.println("2: " + patt2.matcher(html).replaceAll(""));
    System.out.println("3: " + patt3.matcher(html).replaceAll(""));
    System.out.println("4: " + patt4.matcher(html).replaceAll(""));
    System.out.println("5: " + patt5.matcher(html).replaceAll(""));
    System.out.println();
    String h2
= "Begin<!-- This comment doesn't terminate here > but rather here -->End";
    System.out.println("1: " + patt1.matcher(h2).replaceAll(""));
    System.out.println("2: " + patt2.matcher(h2).replaceAll(""));
    System.out.println("4: " + patt4.matcher(h2).replaceAll(""));
    System.out.println();
    String h3 = "Begin<meta name=\"Random\" text=\"Look at the >\">End";
    System.out.println("1: " + patt1.matcher(h3).replaceAll(""));
    System.out.println("2: " + patt2.matcher(h3).replaceAll(""));
    System.out.println("4: " + patt4.matcher(h3).replaceAll(""));
    System.out.println();
}