Java, escaping (using) quotes in a regex

Question

I\'m trying to use the following regex in Java, that\'s supposed to match any lang=\"2-char-lang-name\":

String lang = \"lang=\\\"\" + L.detectL         


        

Answer 1

Three slashes would be correct (\\ + \" becomes \ + " = \"). (Update: Actually, it turns out that isn't even necessary. A single slash also works, it seems.) The problem is your use of [..]; the [] symbols mean "any of the characters in here" (so [..] just means "any character").

Drop the [] and you should be getting what you want:

String ab = "foo=\"bar\" lang=\"AB\"";
String regex = "lang=\\\"..\\\"";
String cd = ab.replaceFirst(regex, "lang=\"CD\"");
System.out.println(cd);

Output:

foo="bar" lang="CD"