Matches in a string in Java

Question

I have this code:

String string = "40' & 40' HC";
if(string.matches("&"))
   System.out.println("Found");

But the condition won't be true. why? Help is appreciated. Thanks

possible duplicate of [How do I compare strings in Java?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/513832/how-do-i-compare-strings-in-java) — sobolevn, Jun 11 '15 at 03:53

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 11 '15 at 03:52

3

String.matches(String) is for a regular expression. I suggest you add an else (and {}) and I believe you wanted contains and something like

if (string.contains("&")) {
    System.out.println("Found");
} else {
    System.out.println("Not found");
}

answered Jun 11 '15 at 03:52

Elliott Frisch

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 11 '15 at 03:54

1

String string = "40' & 40' HC";
if(string.contains("&"))
 System.out.println("Found");

replace .matches with .contains, i believe you are trying to check for a character in the string.

answered Jun 11 '15 at 03:54

Ashish Yete

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 11 '15 at 03:56

It's misnamed .matches() method in JAVA. It tries and matches ALL the input.

String.matches returns whether the whole string matches the regex, not just any substring.

Use Pattern

String string = "40' & 40' HC";
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("&");
Matcher m = p.matcher(string);
if (m.find())
  System.out.println("Found");

3 Answers3