Extract string between two strings in java

Question

I try to get string between <%= and %>, here is my implementation:

String str = \"ZZZZL <%= dsn %> AFFF <%= AFG %>\";
Pattern pattern = Patter         


        

Answer 1

Jlordo approach covers specific situation. If you try to build an abstract method out of it, you can face a difficulty to check if 'textFrom' is before 'textTo'. Otherwise method can return a match for some other occurance of 'textFrom' in text.

Here is a ready-to-go abstract method that covers this disadvantage:

  /**
   * Get text between two strings. Passed limiting strings are not 
   * included into result.
   *
   * @param text     Text to search in.
   * @param textFrom Text to start cutting from (exclusive).
   * @param textTo   Text to stop cuutting at (exclusive).
   */
  public static String getBetweenStrings(
    String text,
    String textFrom,
    String textTo) {

    String result = "";

    // Cut the beginning of the text to not occasionally meet a      
    // 'textTo' value in it:
    result =
      text.substring(
        text.indexOf(textFrom) + textFrom.length(),
        text.length());

    // Cut the excessive ending of the text:
    result =
      result.substring(
        0,
        result.indexOf(textTo));

    return result;
  }