ReplaceAll / regexp / escaping a string

Hi, I have a question about escaping a string for use with replaceAll. My objective is to replace all instances of string1 with string2 so I have been doing so using replaceAll. This works well however with it relying on regexp's I have some questions about escaping.
I want to, for example, replace [%PARAM%] with '100%' however this starts to get in to the murky (to me) worlf of regular expressions. After some testing I realize I have lots of characters that are important to the regexp and I can avoid problems by escaping them like this:
\\[\\%PARAM\\%\\] with '100\\%'
This works however the values will be parsed out of strings the user enters so clearly I don't want them to have to add the escape characters, is there a way I can:
a) Tell it to ignore special characters so it is treated like a basic searcha nd replace or
b) Autmatically escape any problematic characters in the string before calling replaceAll?
If there is another approach you would recommend I'd be very interested to hear it too.
Thanks in advance,
Chris.

Don't get me started on the evils of writing Java inside JSP!
Anyway, if you look at the documentation I helpfully linked for you, you'll see that the replace method that can take two Strings (two CharSequences to be precise) versus just two chars was introduced in version 1.5, so you must be using an older compiler.
You should consider upgrading to 1.6. Even 1.5, let alone the version you must be using, is in its Java Technology End of Life (EOL) transition period.
[http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index_jdk5.jsp]

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.. in String.replaceAll / regexp

Hello,
I have now tried and read ages but cannot get the solution (having a bit experience in Perl regexpt also...). I simply want to replace two sequencing full stops within a string to null, like this:
str = str.replaceAll("..", "");
However, I cannot manage to, . having a special meaning in regexps. I tried things like \Q..\E or \.\. and so on, but it never works or even compiles. I think I have not understood some fundamental stuff... :-)
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Greetings, Timo

Hello Legosa,
That did it! However, I really do not understand, cos backslash being an escape char, I would have expected this output:
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ReplaceAll regexp and JavaScript

I want to write a function that will escape special characters in a String so that they render correctly in JavaScript.
For example, if a string contains a tab, I want the tab to be replaced by \t and so on for all the escape characters : \', \", \\, \b, \f, \n, \t and \r.
Here is my function so far :
public static String JSStringFormat(String value) {
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replaceAll("\"", "\\\""); // I thinkIt throws compilation error on this line itself. If
you are using an IDE, it wont allow you to go further
with that line.
replaceAll("\\\\", "\\\\\\\\"); // I think.
I had a slight error in the quote one the replacement string needed two more quotes. This works:         String str = "\\a \"xyz\" \\ b";
        System.out.println(str);
        //System.out.println(str.replaceAll("\\" , "\\\\\\"));
        System.out.println(str.replaceAll("\"", "\\\\\""));
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^
regEx is particular about special characters like $
and \.Yes, I know.
So when you are using replaceAll, you have to
be careful with regex, and replace them. For example,
if you have a $ to be replaced, you have to replace
it the following way.
str.replaceAll("\\$", "\\\\\\$");Yes.
>
so, instead of directly using the $, you have to use
"\\" that tells the regEx, yes this is a special
character and treat it normally, like any other
character.Yes.
Along those same lines, like I said, you need \\ to get a single \ in a Java String. Then, if you want a literal \ in the regex, you need to provide the regex compiler with \\, which means your Java String literal must be \\\\.

Escaping entire String in a Regular Expression

How does one escape an entire String in a Pattern? I thought that prefixing it with "\\Q" and postfixing with "\\E" would do the trick but this is functioning strangely. It also ignores the possibility of a "\\Q" and/or "\\E" within the String. I guess one could escape every meta-character but this seems like overkill. Is there a utility method somewhere? Why is it that:
System.out.println("xx\\xx".replaceAll("\\Qx\\x\\E", "a"));yields xax but
System.out.println("xx\\xx".replaceAll("\\Q\\\\E", "a"));outputs xx\xx?

It looks like you've uncovered a bug. Specifically, when the Pattern parser sees the backslash that you're trying to match, it looks at the next character to see if it's an 'E'. It isn't, so the parser consumes both characters, then starts looking for the \E sequence again. The next character, of course, is the 'E', but the parser just sees it as a literal 'E' now. End result: instead of a Pattern for a single backslash, you get a Pattern for a backslash, followed by a backslash, followed by an 'E', as demonstrated here:    System.out.println("xx\\\\Exx".replaceAll("\\Q\\\\E", "a")); prints xxaxx.
Since you're escaping the whole regex, you can work around the bug by leaving off the \E:    System.out.println("xx\\xx".replaceAll("\\Q\\", "a")); prints xxaxx.
Or you can do what I do and use this method to escape strings instead of \B ... \E: public static String quotemeta(String str)
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}(This is why I've never run afoul of this bug, though I use regexes a lot.)
I'll submit this to BugParade if you like. While I'm at it, I can submit an RFE to have them add a quotemeta method to Pattern.

Escaping a string for Javascript

Hi!
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It looks like you want the actual escape sequences... public static String editorSafeFilter(String text)
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                    break;
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                    break;
                case '\'':
                    buffer.append("\\\'");
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                case '\\':
                    buffer.append("\\\\");
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Escape, unescape strings

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How i can in JDeveloper make unescape()?

In Java?
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Escape for string will add to db what should i do ??

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Regular expressions.

JRC bug: apostrophe in string parameter passed to Crystal Report with Command datasource to SQL Server

Post Author: nl11087
CA Forum: JAVA
A single quote/apostrophe in string parameter passed to a Crystal Report with Command datasource connecting to a SQL Server database, using sqljdbc driver does not escape the special character correctly. When doing a preview in the Crystal Reports IDE it allows you to escape the input parameter as expected and work correctly, but through the JRC component it fails. For string parameters without special sql server characters I experience no problems at all. When replacing the Command with a direct table there is also no problem.
Reproduction:
1. create a database db1, create a table table1 with a String type column col1.
2. Create new report Report1.rpt, create a connection to above, Add Command using 'SELECT col1, col2, col3 FROM table1 WHERE col1 = '{?Par1}' . Add a parameter field Par1 : String
3. In your java stand alone application using JRC add the parameter Par1 with a value "Jon Doe's Value" containing a single apostrophe. Export to PDF. (I also tried MSWord and this failed too, similar behavior). Additionally, in another test try to replaceAll("'","''") to escape it, preventing the code to break, but now it does not retrieve the expected row anymore and you end up with an empty report.
Exception StackTrace:
com.crystaldecisions.reports.exportinterface.exceptions.ExportException: JDBC Error: Incorrect syntax near 's'.
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.a.c.if(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.a.c.a(Unknown Source)
at com.businessobjects.reports.sdk.b.b.int(Unknown Source)
at com.businessobjects.reports.sdk.JRCCommunicationAdapter.request(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.proxy.remoteagent.x.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.proxy.remoteagent.q.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.dd.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.ReportSource.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.ReportSource.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.PrintOutputController.export(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.PrintOutputController.export(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.sdk.PrintOutputController.export(Unknown Source)
Caused by: com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.formatter.c: JDBC Error: Incorrect syntax near 's'.
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.formatter.objectformatter.bv.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.formatter.objectformatter.bv.if(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.formatter.e.l.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.formatter.e.p.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.formatter.e.p.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.a.c.a(Unknown Source)
... 17 more
Caused by: com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.be: JDBC Error: Incorrect syntax near 's'.
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.n.else(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.n.nr(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.n.bn(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.n.bp(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.n.else(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.s.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.bk.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.bk.aa(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.bk.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.bk.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.bk.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.bk.a(Unknown Source)
... 23 more
Caused by: com.crystaldecisions.reports.reportdefinition.datainterface.n: JDBC Error: Incorrect syntax near 's'.
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.reportdefinition.datainterface.p.a(Unknown Source)
... 35 more
Caused by: com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.driverImpl.m: JDBC Error: Incorrect syntax near 's'.
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.driverImpl.o.eC(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.driverImpl.o.if(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.ap.ea(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.ap.h(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.ap.dV(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.ax.if(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.bc.if(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.bc.do(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.bc.do(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.ae.cy(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.ae.cz(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.b1.bc(Unknown Source)
... 36 more
Caused by: com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException: Incorrect syntax near 's'.
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException.makeFromDatabaseError(Unknown Source)
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.IOBuffer.processPackets(Unknown Source)
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerStatement.getNextResult(Unknown Source)
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerStatement.doExecuteStatement(Unknown Source)
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerStatement$StatementExecutionRequest.executeStatement(Unknown Source)
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.CancelableRequest.execute(Unknown Source)
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerConnection.executeRequest(Unknown Source)
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerStatement.execute(Unknown Source)
... 48 more
- JRCAgent3 detected an exception: An error occured while exporting the report
at com.businessobjects.reports.sdk.b.b.int(Unknown Source)
at com.businessobjects.reports.sdk.JRCCommunicationAdapter.request(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.proxy.remoteagent.x.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.proxy.remoteagent.q.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.dd.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.ReportSource.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.ReportSource.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.PrintOutputController.export(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.PrintOutputController.export(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.sdk.PrintOutputController.export(Unknown Source)

Post Author: nl11087
CA Forum: JAVA
A single quote/apostrophe in string parameter passed to a Crystal Report with Command datasource connecting to a SQL Server database, using sqljdbc driver does not escape the special character correctly. When doing a preview in the Crystal Reports IDE it allows you to escape the input parameter as expected and work correctly, but through the JRC component it fails. For string parameters without special sql server characters I experience no problems at all. When replacing the Command with a direct table there is also no problem.
Reproduction:
1. create a database db1, create a table table1 with a String type column col1.
2. Create new report Report1.rpt, create a connection to above, Add Command using 'SELECT col1, col2, col3 FROM table1 WHERE col1 = '{?Par1}' . Add a parameter field Par1 : String
3. In your java stand alone application using JRC add the parameter Par1 with a value "Jon Doe's Value" containing a single apostrophe. Export to PDF. (I also tried MSWord and this failed too, similar behavior). Additionally, in another test try to replaceAll("'","''") to escape it, preventing the code to break, but now it does not retrieve the expected row anymore and you end up with an empty report.
Exception StackTrace:
com.crystaldecisions.reports.exportinterface.exceptions.ExportException: JDBC Error: Incorrect syntax near 's'.
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.a.c.if(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.a.c.a(Unknown Source)
at com.businessobjects.reports.sdk.b.b.int(Unknown Source)
at com.businessobjects.reports.sdk.JRCCommunicationAdapter.request(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.proxy.remoteagent.x.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.proxy.remoteagent.q.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.dd.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.ReportSource.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.ReportSource.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.PrintOutputController.export(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.PrintOutputController.export(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.sdk.PrintOutputController.export(Unknown Source)
Caused by: com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.formatter.c: JDBC Error: Incorrect syntax near 's'.
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.formatter.objectformatter.bv.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.formatter.objectformatter.bv.if(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.formatter.e.l.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.formatter.e.p.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.formatter.e.p.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.formatter.a.c.a(Unknown Source)
... 17 more
Caused by: com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.be: JDBC Error: Incorrect syntax near 's'.
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.n.else(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.n.nr(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.n.bn(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.n.bp(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.n.else(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.s.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.bk.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.bk.aa(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.bk.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.bk.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.bk.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.dataengine.bk.a(Unknown Source)
... 23 more
Caused by: com.crystaldecisions.reports.reportdefinition.datainterface.n: JDBC Error: Incorrect syntax near 's'.
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.reportdefinition.datainterface.p.a(Unknown Source)
... 35 more
Caused by: com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.driverImpl.m: JDBC Error: Incorrect syntax near 's'.
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.driverImpl.o.eC(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.driverImpl.o.if(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.ap.ea(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.ap.h(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.ap.dV(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.ax.if(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.bc.if(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.bc.do(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.bc.do(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.ae.cy(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.ae.cz(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.queryengine.b1.bc(Unknown Source)
... 36 more
Caused by: com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException: Incorrect syntax near 's'.
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException.makeFromDatabaseError(Unknown Source)
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.IOBuffer.processPackets(Unknown Source)
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerStatement.getNextResult(Unknown Source)
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerStatement.doExecuteStatement(Unknown Source)
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerStatement$StatementExecutionRequest.executeStatement(Unknown Source)
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.CancelableRequest.execute(Unknown Source)
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerConnection.executeRequest(Unknown Source)
at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerStatement.execute(Unknown Source)
... 48 more
- JRCAgent3 detected an exception: An error occured while exporting the report
at com.businessobjects.reports.sdk.b.b.int(Unknown Source)
at com.businessobjects.reports.sdk.JRCCommunicationAdapter.request(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.proxy.remoteagent.x.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.proxy.remoteagent.q.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.dd.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.ReportSource.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.ReportSource.a(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.PrintOutputController.export(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.application.PrintOutputController.export(Unknown Source)
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.sdk.PrintOutputController.export(Unknown Source)

How to replace regex match into a char value (in the middle of a string)

Hi uncle_alice and other great regex gurus
One of my friends has a peculiar problem and I cant give him a solution.
Using String#replaceAll(), i.e. NOT a Matcher loop, how could we convert matched digit string such as "65" into a char of its numeric value. That is, "65" should be converted into letter 'A'.
Here's the failing code:
public class GetChar{
public static void main(String[] args){
    String orig = "this is an LF<#10#> and this is an 'A'<#65#>";
    String regx = "(<#)(\\d+)#>";
    //expected result : "this is an LF\n and this is an 'A'A"
    String result = orig.replaceAll(regx, "\\u00$2");
    // String result = orig.replaceAll(regx, "\\\\u00$2"); //this also doesn't work
    System.out.println(result);

I don't know that we have lost anything substantial.i think its just that the kind of task this is
especially useful for is kind of a blind-spot in the
range of things java is a good-fit for (?)
for certain tasks (eg process output munging) an
experienced perl programmer could knock up (in perl)
using built-in language features a couple of lines
which in java could takes pages to do. If the cost is
readability/maintainability/expandability etc.. then
this might be a problem, but for a number of
day-to-day tasks it isn't
i'm trying to learn perl at the moment for this exact
reason :)Yes. And when a Java source-code processor(a.k.a. compiler) sees the code like:
line = line.replaceAll(regexp, new String(new char[] {(char)(Integer.parseInt("$1"))}));or,
line = line.replaceAll(regexp, doMyProcessOn("$1")); //doMyProcess returns a Stringa common sense should have told him that "$1" isn't a literal string "$1" in this regular expression context.
By the way, I abhor Perl code becaus of its incomprehensibleness. They can't be read by an average common sense. Java code can be, sort of ...

Replacing all occurrences of characters in a string with one new character?

Hi there,
I'm looking for a way that I could replace all occurrences of a set of specific characters with just one new character for each occurrence.
For example if I have a string which is "word1...word2.......word3....word4............word5" how would I be able to replace this with just one character such as ":" for each set of "." so that it would essentially appear like this "word1:word2:word3:word4:word5"
If I just use replace(".", ":") I am left with "word1:::word2:::::::word4::::word5::::::::::::"
So therefore I'm guessing this would require the use of replaceAll() maybe? but I'm not really very familiar with how regular expressions work and how this would be accomplished using them.
Any help would be greatly appreciated :) Thanks.

Yes, but "." means any character, so ".\+" means "any character repeated more than once". If you just mean a full stop ("period" for you Americans :p) you should use "\.+" as your regular expression, but remember that for Java you need a '\' escape to recognise '\' as '\', so in code you'd actually type your regex as:
"\\.+"Here's an example of one way to do it:
import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
public class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
       String string = "example1.......example2...example3.....example4";
     Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("\\.+");
     Matcher stringMatcher = pattern.matcher(string);
     string = stringMatcher.replaceAll(":");
     System.out.println(string);
}Edited by: JohnGraham on Oct 24, 2008 5:19 AM
Edited by: JohnGraham on Oct 24, 2008 5:22 AM

Bug in replace all. escape characters are not working.

Hi,
My requirement is that whenever i see ":" (Colon) in the string then i want to replace it with (\:). So i tried
String escapedTitle = "title:the world is not enough".replace(":", "\\:")
and to my surprise, when i printed escapedTitle i got
title\\:the world is not enough
instead of
title\:the world is not enough
(note the back slash in the string)
I want to ask why there is a different beehavious of escape characters? I am using JDK1.6.0_06

Sorry for the last post. Please try this:
public class test
public static void main(String a[])
     String escapedTitle = "title:the world is not enough".replaceAll(":+", "\\:"); //or [:]+
     String escapedTitle1 = "title:the world is not enough".replaceAll(":+", "*"); // or [:]+
     System.out.println("Another String is "+ escapedTitle);
     System.out.println("Another String is "+ escapedTitle1);
     System.out.println(System.getProperty("java.vendor"));
     System.out.println(System.getProperty("java.version"));
output is
Another String is title:the world is not enough
Another String is titlethe* world is not enough
Sun Microsystems Inc.
1.6.0_06
Please let me know why i am not getting : as escaped (\:) with replaceAll method.
i want string escapedTitle as Another String is title*\:*the world is not enough

Regex replaceAll question

I am using replaceAll to replace a bunch of "tags" with content for this bit of software that I am porting (from something else) that creates documents (in the end) by populating templates with data.
Here's my problem. The "tags" are all okay (not giving any regex content) but some of the data is. Because at first now I hit data that as a String has some regex funky characters in it. And regex got all all whiny about that because there aren't any matching groups. Well no. That's true.
So I have to escape the $. But it occurs to me that I could well have more than this problem with other bits of content (including some parts I haven't gotten to yet) and I am wondering if there is any sort of easy solution. Is there way to tell replaceAll that the replacement String is a "literal" replacement i.e. I don't want any regex parsing at all just replace the found "tag" with the "content", that's it.
Some sort of escape the whole sequence? Possibly. But I don't understand what it would be. \ is just for as single character?
So any quick solution? Or alternative?
BTW I am stuck with 1.4 on this project.

yawmark wrote:
I'd recommend trying Apache Commons StringUtils.
Hope this message doesn't disappear into the aether.
~I think it did for awhile but like Lazarus arose...
Anyway thank you for the effort.
This is an interesting suggestion but I'd rather not go the route of adding more libraries.
What I did at first was
private void replaceAll(StringBuffer buff, String toFind, String toReplace){
while(buff.indexOf(toFind)>-1){
buff.replace(buff.indexOf(toFind),buff.indexOf(toFind)+toFind.length(),toReplace);
}which worked good enough for me but someone else pointed out quoteReplacement and just doing my own version of that. Which works well too.
Anyway thanks again I do appreciate it what with the current situation and all.

ReplaceAll / regexp / escaping a string

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