How can I split a string in Java and retain the delimiters?

Question

I have this string (Java 1.5):

:alpha;beta:gamma;delta

I need to get an array:

{\":alpha\", \";beta\", \":gamma\", \";delta         


        

Answer 1

To keep the separators, you can use a StringTokenizer:

new StringTokenizer(":alpha;beta:gamma;delta", ":;", true)

That would yield the separators as tokens.

To have them as part of your tokens, you could use String#split with lookahead.