Search and replace strings in a file while ignoring substrings

Question

Hi:
I have a java program that searches and replaces strings in a file. It makes a new copy of the file, searches for a string in the copy, replaces the string and renames the new copy to the original file, thereafter deleting the copy.
Now searching for "abcd", for eg works fine, but searching for "Topabcd" and replacing it doesnot work because there is a match for "abcd" in a different search scenario. How can I modify the code such that if "abcd" is already searched and replaced then it should not be searched for again or rather search for "abcd" as entire string and not if its a substring of another string.
In the below code output, all instances of "abcd" and the ones of "Topabcd" are replaced by ABCDEFG and TopABCDEF respectively, whereas according to the desired output, "abcd" should be replaced by ABCDEFG and "Topabcd" should be replaced by REPLACEMEFIRST.
try
          String find_productstring = "abcd";
          String replacement_productstring = "ABCDEFG";
          compsXml = new FileReader(compsLoc);
          compsConfigFile = new BufferedReader(compsXml);
          File compsFile =new File("file.xml");
          File compsNewFile =new File("file1.xml");
          BufferedWriter out =new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter("file1.xml"));
          while ((compsLine = compsConfigFile.readLine()) != null)
                new_compsLine =compsLine.replaceFirst(find_productstring, replacement_productstring);
                out.write(new_compsLine);
                out.write("\n");
            out.close();
            compsConfigFile.close();
            compsFile.delete();
            compsNewFile.renameTo(compsFile);
        catch (IOException e)
        //since "Topabcd" contains "abcd", which is the search above and hence the string "Topabcd" is not replaced correctly
         try
               String find_producttopstring = "Topabcd";
               String replacement_producttopstring = "REPLACEMEFIRST";
               compsXml = new FileReader(compsLoc);
               compsConfigFile = new BufferedReader(compsXml);
               File compsFile =new File("file.xml");
               File compsNewFile =new File("file1.xml");
               BufferedWriter out =new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter("file1.xml"));
               while ((compsLine = compsConfigFile.readLine()) != null)
                     new_compsLine =compsLine.replaceFirst(find_producttopstring, replacement_producttopstring);
                     out.write(new_compsLine);
                     out.write("\n");
                 out.close();
                 compsConfigFile.close();
                 compsFile.delete();
                 compsNewFile.renameTo(compsFile);
             catch (IOException e)
        }Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

Hi:
I have a java program that searches and replaces
strings in a file. It makes a new copy of the file,
searches for a string in the copy, replaces the
string and renames the new copy to the original file,
thereafter deleting the copy.
Now searching for "abcd", for eg works fine, but
searching for "Topabcd" and replacing it doesnot work
because there is a match for "abcd" in a different
search scenario. How can I modify the code such that
if "abcd" is already searched and replaced then it
should not be searched for again or rather search for
"abcd" as entire string and not if its a substring of
another string.
In the below code output, all instances of "abcd" and
the ones of "Topabcd" are replaced by ABCDEFG and
TopABCDEF respectively, whereas according to the
desired output, "abcd" should be replaced by ABCDEFG
and "Topabcd" should be replaced by REPLACEMEFIRST.
try
String find_productstring = "abcd";
String replacement_productstring = "ABCDEFG";
compsXml = new FileReader(compsLoc);
compsConfigFile = new
BufferedReader(compsXml);
File compsFile =new File("file.xml");
File compsNewFile =new File("file1.xml");
BufferedWriter out =new BufferedWriter(new
FileWriter("file1.xml"));
while ((compsLine =
compsConfigFile.readLine()) != null)
new_compsLine
=compsLine.replaceFirst(find_productstring,
replacement_productstring);
out.write(new_compsLine);
out.write("\n");
out.close();
compsConfigFile.close();
compsFile.delete();
compsNewFile.renameTo(compsFile);
catch (IOException e)
//since "Topabcd" contains "abcd", which is
the search above and hence the string "Topabcd" is
not replaced correctly
try
               String find_producttopstring = "Topabcd";
String replacement_producttopstring =
topstring = "REPLACEMEFIRST";
               compsXml = new FileReader(compsLoc);
compsConfigFile = new
gFile = new BufferedReader(compsXml);
               File compsFile =new File("file.xml");
               File compsNewFile =new File("file1.xml");
BufferedWriter out =new BufferedWriter(new
dWriter(new FileWriter("file1.xml"));
while ((compsLine =
compsLine = compsConfigFile.readLine()) != null)
new_compsLine
new_compsLine
=compsLine.replaceFirst(find_producttopstring,
replacement_producttopstring);
out.write(new_compsLine);
out.write("\n");
out.close();
compsConfigFile.close();
compsFile.delete();
compsNewFile.renameTo(compsFile);
             catch (IOException e)
Thanks a lot!I tried the matches(...) method but it doesnt seem to work.
while ((compsLine = compsConfigFile.readLine()) != null)
if(compsLine.matches(find_productstring))
     System.out.println("Exact match is found for abcd");
     new_compsLine =compsLine.replaceFirst(find_productstring, replacement_productstring);
out.write(new_compsLine);
out.write("\n");
     else
     System.out.println("Exact match is not found for abcd");
     out.write(compsLine);
     out.write("\n");