Can the key in a Java property include a blank character?

Question

We are getting properties (that we can not influence) out of a database and want to access them by a key/value mapping. We are facing the problem that one of the property ke

Answer 1

I assume by "properties", you mean a Java property file (as written/read by java.util.Properties).

Then, as you write yourself,

foo bar = barefoot

must indeed be interpreted as

key: foo
value: bar = barefoot

There's no way to configure this using the built-in Properties class. You must either manipulate your input (escape the whitespace, change it to _ and back...), or write your own parser. Writing your own parser is probably better, as obviously your input isn't really a Java properties file to begin with :-).