Hi,

Here's my text:
"Between us there was, as Ms. Niceguy I have already said some-
where, the bond of the sea.  Besides holding U.S.A. our hearts
together Ms. Jones through N.A.S.A. long periods of separation, it had the
effect of making us tolerant of each other's yarns--and
even Ms. Morizaki convictions."

I'd like to replace strings like Ms. Niceguy, Ms. Jones, Ms. Morizaki and other following pattern "Ms. Xxx" and this two abbreviations "U.S.A." and "N.A.S.A." with word "ex#" in one regex. Is this possible?

Wanted result:
"Between us there was, as ex# I have already said some-
where, the bond of the sea.  Besides holding ex# our hearts
together ex# through ex# long periods of separation, it had the
effect of making us tolerant of each other's yarns--and
even ex# convictions."

Thanks for any help!

// Language: Java (Eclipse)
// OS: Windows XP SP2

try regex replace with pattern

(\b[A-Z]\.)+|(Ms\.\x20\S+)

with replacement string

ex#

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Michael

"In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not."
Albert Einstein

Thanks, it works perfect! :)

But I have another question:
String input = ReadFromFile("file.txt");
String replacement = "#ex#";
String exPtrn = "(\\b[A-Z]\\.)+|(Ms\\.\\x20\\S+)";
ArrayList<String> exList = new ArrayList<String>();

I'd like to replace words in input string using exPtrn and put replaced words into exList.
I tried input = input.replaceAll(exPtrn, replacement), but I don't know how to put these words into collection right away, processing the file only once. Any ideas ?

I'd appreciate any help!

Unfortunately replaceAll doesn't create a match collection, you would need to use java.util.regex.Matcher for that, but once you have file read into the "input" variable, you would only need to process the "input" variable twice.

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So here's my code:

String input = ReadFromFile("file.txt");
String replacement = "#ex#";
String exPtrn = "(\\b[A-Z]\\.)+|(Ms\\.\\x20\\S+)";
ArrayList<String> exList = new ArrayList<String>();

Pattern regex = Pattern.compile(exPtrn, Pattern.CANON_EQ);
Matcher regexMatcher = regex.matcher(input);
String tmp = new String();

    while (regexMatcher.find()) {
        tmp = regexMatcher.group();
        exList.add(tmp);
}

It seems to be working good, but how can I replace found words with "#ex#" in input String.. This code only add exclusions into exList :(  Please help!

Can't say I know Java syntax well, but adding something like this to the bottom your code should work:

input=input.replaceAll(exPtrn, replacement);

It's a 2-step process if you want to match and replace.

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