The java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException is thrown when the regular expression – regex pattern is not correct. The java String matches method checks the given string with the specified regular expression. If the java string matches the regular expression, it will return true, otherwise it will return false. The java exception java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException is thrown, if the specified regular expression is invalid.

The exception java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException is thrown in the following methods in String class

  • String.matches
  • String.replaceFirst
  • String.replaceAll
  • String.split


Exception

Exception in thread "main" java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException: Dangling meta character '*' near index 0
**
^
	at java.util.regex.Pattern.error(Pattern.java:1955)
	at java.util.regex.Pattern.sequence(Pattern.java:2123)
	at java.util.regex.Pattern.expr(Pattern.java:1996)
	at java.util.regex.Pattern.compile(Pattern.java:1696)
	at java.util.regex.Pattern.<init>(Pattern.java:1351)
	at java.util.regex.Pattern.compile(Pattern.java:1028)
	at java.util.regex.Pattern.matches(Pattern.java:1133)
	at java.lang.String.matches(String.java:2121)
	at com.yawintutor.StringMatches.main(StringMatches.java:9)


Root Cause

If invalid regular expression is provided in the java methods, then this exception will be thrown. validate the regular expression with the regular expression rules.



How to reproduce this issue

If you provide a invalid regular expression in the String.matches method, java can’t parse the regular expression string. So this exception will be thrown. In the example below, the String “**” is a invalid regular expression.

package com.yawintutor;

public class StringMatches {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		String str = "Yawin";
		String str2 = "**";
		boolean index;

		index = str.matches(str2);

		System.out.println("Given String : " + str);
		System.out.println("String index : " + index);
	}
}


Solution 1

The String.matches method should be provided with a valid regular expression. the below example is shown with a valid regular expression. The more details about regular expression is available in java.util.regex.Pattern class.

package com.yawintutor;

public class StringMatches {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		String str = "Yawin";
		String str2 = "Y.*";
		boolean index;

		index = str.matches(str2);

		System.out.println("Given String : " + str);
		System.out.println("String index : " + index);
	}
}

Output

Given String : Yawin
String index : true


Solution 2

The java string split is used to to tokenize the string using a split parameter. A given string is divided into multiple string using the regex pattern as delimiter. In the example below, the : is used to delimit the string.

package com.yawintutor;

public class StringSplit {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		String str = "a:b:c:d";
		String str2 = ":";
		String[] strArray;

		strArray = str.split(str2);

		System.out.println("Given String : " + str);
		for(String s:strArray) {
			System.out.println("String : " + s);
		}
	}
}

Output

Given String : a:b:c:d
String : a
String : b
String : c
String : d



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