Parsing CSV input with a RegEx in java

Question

I know, now I have two problems. But I\'m having fun!

I started with this advice not to try and split, but instead to match on what is an acceptable field, and expa

Answer 1

(?:^|,)\s*(?:(?:(?=")"([^"].*?)")|(?:(?!")(.*?)))(?=,|$)

This should do what you want.

Explanation:

(?:^|,)\s*

The pattern should start with a , or beginning of string. Also, ignore all whitespace at the beginning.

Lookahead and see if the rest starts with a quote

(?:(?=")"([^"].*?)")

If it does, then match non-greedily till next quote.

(?:(?!")(.*?))

If it does not begin with a quote, then match non-greedily till next comma or end of string.

(?=,|$)

The pattern should end with a comma or end of string.