Regular expession that matchs a Java Method declaration and body

[rmp]

Hi,

I need a Regex that will match a java method declaration, as well as body.

// Create a pattern to match the java methods
Pattern p = Pattern.compile(Regex);

thanks in advance
~parizi

[eRaaaa]

Have you an idea?
What says google?
Regex to match a Java method signature - Stack Overflow
Regex that Will Match a Java Method Declaration - Stack Overflow

The method must have a return value?
That could be be complicated (generics and so on) ....Java regex for a method signature with a Collection<GenericType> return type - Stack Overflow

Why do you need that?

[rmp]

thanks for the reply. I have already checked out the links that you'd sent to me. I got some ideas but i am still not able to make out the pattern to match the methods. yeah, it might have return value. I need this for part of my testing approach's implementation, where it should automatically extract methods.

[JosAH]

I need a Regex that will match a java method declaration, as well as body.

// Create a pattern to match the java methods
Pattern p = Pattern.compile(Regex);

Java is not a regular (type 3) language, it's a context free (type 2) language; regular expressions can only parse/match/recognize regular languages so it can't be done.

kind regards,

Jos

[rmp]

thanks Jos! you are right, but i believe it still can be done. The only matter is how to use a proper combination of Regular Expressions Constructs to come up with the desired pattern. Anyway, what would be your idea (other than regex) in order to help automated extracting of methods from a Java class?

[JosAH]

thanks Jos! you are right, but i believe it still can be done. The only matter is how to use a proper combination of Regular Expressions Constructs to come up with the desired pattern. Anyway, what would be your idea (other than regex) in order to help automated extracting of methods from a Java class?

Belief only leads to religion and we all know the consequences of that ;-) I'd try to use javac itself for the task; it has a complete API (see tihe documentation); you can make it parse source text and not generate class files; the AST (Abstract Syntax Tree) can be read by the application too, so you can get the method definitions out of the text).

kind regards,

Jos