How to parse String effectively based on a dilimiter

[raghu408]

If i have a string like :

update employee
set wtKey = name||pno||id
where id is not null

Then my API should return this when i pass "||"

name||pno||id

I tried doing it using ' ' as dilimiter and check to see if the parsed string has || but that won't work when the above update cmd is written in the following manner:

update employee
set wtKey = name || pno || id
where id is not null

(or)

update employee
set wtKey = name|| ' ' ||id
where id is not null

Is there any API or third party stuff that can perform such operation instead of we parsing it based on some assumptions.
Any help would be appreciated

[Eranga]

What you want to extract, a string name||pno||id or the words in contain?

[raghu408]

Hi Eranga thanks for your response... My requirement here is to get the string name||pno||id : I am trying to parse a sql query to parse it for " name||pno||id " so that i can write some functionality to convert it to CONCAT(name,pno,id). As i said above i used space as delimiter and checking if the parsed string has " || " but thats not working in the case i mentioned above.

[Eranga]

You can use the StringTokenizer class to do it. Since in your string contain = and || sign it's not difficult. But after finding tokens you have to rebuild the string. Did you get what I say.

[raghu408]

That would be an option if i just need to do this on this particular string but the way i want is like what ever sql you pass it should parse for such strings that has '||' so that i could convert them to SqlServer acceptable format .

This is a requirement because || is not allowed in sql server instead we need to use CONCAT

example a||b||c in oracle is equivalent to CONCAT(a,b,c) in SqlServer

[javarishi]

Yaah Raghu Use String Tokenizer and make deffrent tokes of strings using delimeter as ||. After That Use Concatanation Operator to concat it, and use it.

[game]

Use String.split() method. It can take array of strings as arguments. StringTokenizer can/may be deprecated in the present/future releases.

regards,

game.

[javarishi]

game,
can you tell me the difference b/w StringTokenizer as well as split() method

[DonCash]

Quote:

Use String.split() method. It can take array of strings as arguments. StringTokenizer can/may be deprecated in the present/future releases.

Yes game I agree. I didn't even think anyone used StringTokenizer anymore!

Here is a quick example of the Split method:

Code:

String myString = "a||b||c";
String[] split = myString.split("||");
System.out.println(split[1]+","+split[4]+","+split[7]);

Output:

Code:

a,b,c

[Eranga]

I don't think it is easy. In split, argument must be a single delimiter. According to the string here talking about, it is '||'. But split required '|' only. But if you try, can do it.

[javarishi]

Eranga,
Your 10th post is not clear. Can You Repeat it briefly

[Eranga]

Don are sure that what you have done is right. Simply try to loop the array and see what happened.

[Eranga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by javarishi

Eranga,
Your 10th post is not clear. Can You Repeat it briefly

Sure, why not. Simply compile this code and run. Check the output, with initial strings.

Code:

        String s1 = "update employee set wtKey = name || pno || id where id is not null";
        String s2 = "update employee set wtKey = name # pno # id where id is not null";

        String[] rs1 = s1.split("||");
        for(int i = 0;i < rs1.length;i++){
            System.out.println(rs1[i]);
        }
            
        String[] rs2 = s2.split("#");
        for(int j = 0;j < rs2.length;j++){
            System.out.println(rs2[j]);
        }

You may comes-up with what I try to say.

Eranga

[DonCash]

Quote:

I don't think it is easy. In split, argument must be a single delimiter. According to the string here talking about, it is '||'. But split required '|' only. But if you try, can do it.

Yeah you are right. Looping through the arrays will give you problems..

[Eranga]

Yep, even me initially explained all of them without exploring. But I remember that split can't use for multiple characters actually. I'm confusing by seen your code, that may be I have made a mistake.

Anyway, it's clear now

[DonCash]

I didnt know you couldn't split with multiple characters like || actually. I thought the Array placement was quite strange..

How about this?

Code:

String myString = "a||b||c";
myString = myString.replace("||", ",");
String[] split = myString.split(",");
                       
System.out.println(split[0]+split[1]+split[2]);

There wont be any problems with looping through the arrays then...

[Eranga]

Yep, that's true and what I try to give as a hint is that to our original question poster. Still no response there.

[javarishi]

Hei Eranga,
What Is Wrong If I Use StringTokenizer?

[Eranga]

Nothing is wrong there. By look at the original string I can say, it's not easy. But it is really good way, rather working with arrays.

I hate ArrayOutOfBoundExceptions

[Chris.Brown.SPE]

Your problem with using temp.split("||"); is simply that the argument is a regular expression not a string, char, or char array. You must give it the escape character which must be escaped itself. Use the following line to do it without replacing your || with something else:

temp.split("\\|\\|");