String replaceAll() Java

This String class method, replaceAll(), replaces all the occurrences of a word in a string with another word introduced with JDK 1.4 to use with regular expressions. The method returns a new string with affected words. The original string is not disturbed (string is immutable).

We discussed a similar program in "String – uppercase, lowercase, replacing" where replace() method usage is shown.

Following are the two methods involved along with String replaceAll().

1. String replaceAll(String regexp, String target): Replaces all the words or a substring (group of words) that matches the regular expression with the target string.
2. String replaceFirst(String regexp, String target): Replaces the first word or a substring (group of words) that matches the regular expression with the target string.

Following program shows the simplest way of using the String replaceAll() method.

public class ReplaceAll
{
  public static void main(String args[])
  {                                    // REPLACING ALL OCCURRENCES	
    String str1 = "Hard work results. Hard work persists.";
    System.out.println("Before replaceAll(): " + str1);
    String str2 = str1.replaceAll("Hard work", "Dedication");
    System.out.println("After replaceAll(): " + str2);

			             // REPLACING FIRST OCCURRENCE ONLY
    String str3 = str1.replaceFirst("Hard work", "Dedication");
    System.out.println("After replaceFirst(): " + str3);
  }
}

Output screen on String replaceAll() Java

String str2 = str1.replaceAll(“Hard work”, “Dedication”);

The above statement can be replaced with replace() method as follows and works nice.

String str2 = str1.replace (“Hard work”, “Dedication”);

A special case of repalceAll() is replaceFirst() which replaces the first occurrence only.

String str3 = str1.replaceFirst(“Hard work”, “Dedication”);

In the above statement, the first occurrence of "Hard work" is replaced by "Dedication". Observe the screenshot.

But replaceAll() method is meant to work with regular expressions, a concept supported by Java from JDK 1.4. Observe the method signatures.

Following program uses regular expressions to replace the words of a string.

public class ReplaceAll
{
  public static void main(String args[])
  {
    String str1 = "a 1 bc 2 def 3 gh456";
    String str2 = str1.replaceAll("\\d", "OK");
    System.out.println(str2);

    String str3 = str1.replaceAll("\\D", "OK");
    System.out.println(str3);

    String str4 = "Hello Hello Hello";
    System.out.println(str4.replaceFirst("Hello", "Morning"));

    String str5 = str4.replaceAll("^Hello", "Morning");
    System.out.println(str5);

    System.out.println(str4.replaceAll("Hello$", "Morning"));
  }
}

Output screen on String replaceAll() Java

String str1 = “a 1 bc 2 def 3 gh456”;
String str2 = str1.replaceAll(“\\d”, “OK”);

In the string str1, both digits and letters (alphabets) exist. The regular expression syntax \\d replaces each digit with OK.

String str3 = str1.replaceAll(“\\D”, “OK”);

The regular expression syntax \\D replaces each non-digit (each letter), in the string str1, with OK.

String str4 = “Hello Hello Hello”;
System.out.println(str4.replaceFirst(“Hello”, “Morning”));

We know in the earlier program, the replaceFirst() method replaces the first occurrence of Hello with Morning.

String str5 = str4.replaceAll(“^Hello”, “Morning”);

The same affect of repalceFirst() can be achieved with regular expression. The expression ^Hello indicates the first occurrence of Hello to be replaced with Morning.

System.out.println(str4.replaceAll(“Hello$”, “Morning”));

No method exists with String class to change the last the occurrence of Hello. This can be achieved with the regular expression. The expression Hello$ indicates the last occurrence of Hello to be replaced with Morning.

Following are some regular expressions suitable to use with replaceAll().

Regular Expression	Description
\w	A word character
\W	A non-word character
\d	Any digit
\D	Any non-digit (it includes whitespace also)
\s	Whitespace
\S	A non-whitespace character

Regular expressions are discussed, to some extent, in way2java.com in JDK 1.4 (J2SE 4) Version. But regular expressions usage is a big subject which requires a good study. You are advised to refer a good Web site that primarily discusses regular expressions.

Java split() method is illustrated in Region Matches – Interning – Splitting and JDK 1.4 (J2SE 4) Version.