Java Regex Pipe Delimited ?

Question

Hello
I am trying to split the string which is pipe delimited. I am new to Regex and new to Java.
My Java/Regex code line to split is:
listColumns = aLine.split("\\|"); // my code has 2 backslash-escapes chars plus 1 pipe char but this forum does not allow me to put pipes or escapes correctly and plain text help is of NO HELP 8^(
My input string has 3 leading and 4 trailing pipe characters
My Output from split: (3 leading emptry strings work but 4 trailing pipe delimiters dont work)
SplitStrings2:[]
SplitStrings2:[]
SplitStrings2:[]
SplitStrings2:[col1]
SplitStrings2:[col3]
SplitStrings2:[col4]
I do get 3 empty strings for all 3 leading pipes but no empty strings for the any traling 4 pipe characters.
What do I need to change the code such that all repeated pipes resulted in same number of empty strings returned by split method?
thanks
YuriB
Edited by: yurib on Nov 28, 2012 12:25 PM
Edited by: yurib on Nov 28, 2012 12:25 PM
Edited by: yurib on Nov 28, 2012 12:29 PM

Answer 1

1. The pipe is a meta-character so escape it.
2. Split rolls things up for you unless you tell it otherwise.
String s = "|||A|B|C||||";
String[] array = s.split("[|]", 10);
for(int i=0; i < array.length; i++)
     System.out.println("" + i + ": " + array);