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Updated on 2025-03-04

Detailed explanation of the string replacement method in Java: replace, replaceAll and replaceFirst examples

In Java, string replacement is a common operation, especially when dealing with text and formatting output. Java provides several different ways to implement string replacement, includingreplace, replaceAllandreplaceFirst. This article discusses the usage, differences, and examples of these methods in detail.

1. replace(CharSequence target, CharSequence replacement)

replaceThe method is the easiest string replacement method, which will bring all specified targets in the target string (target) Replace with the specified replacement (replacement) string.

parameter:

  • target: The sequence of target strings to be replaced.
  • replacement: Replace the sequence of strings for the target.

Example:

public class ReplaceExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String original = "abac";
        String replaced = ("a", "-a");
        (replaced); // Output: -ab-ac    }
}

In the example above, replace all "a" in the string "abac" with "-a".

2. replaceAll(String regex, String replacement)

replaceAllMethods use regular expressions to replace all matching regular expressions in a string (regex) part is the specified replacement (replacement) string.

parameter:

  • regex: The regular expression to match.
  • replacement: Replace the matching string.

Example:

import ;
import ;
public class ReplaceAllExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String text = "regular expression Hello World,regular expression Hello World";
        Pattern pattern = ("regular expression");
        Matcher matcher = (text);
        String replaced = ("Java");
        (replaced); // Output: Java Hello World, Java Hello World    }
}

In the example above, use the regular expression "regular expression" to replace all matches in the text with "Java".

3. replaceFirst(String regex, String replacement)

replaceFirstMethods andreplaceAllSimilar, but it only replaces the first matched regular expression (regex)。

parameter:

  • regex: The regular expression to match.
  • replacement: Replace the first matching string.

Example:

import ;
import ;
public class ReplaceFirstExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String text = "regular expression Hello World,regular expression Hello World";
        Pattern pattern = ("regular expression");
        Matcher matcher = (text);
        String replaced = ("Java");
        (replaced); // Output: Java Hello World, Regular Expression Hello World    }
}

In the example above, the first match in the text is "Java".

Differences and summary

  • replace: Simple character sequence replacement, does not involve regular expressions, replaces all matching target strings.
  • replaceAll: Replace all matching substrings with regular expressions.
  • replaceFirst: Replace the first matching substring with regular expressions.

These three methods provide flexible string replacement methods, and different methods can be selected according to requirements to achieve accurate replacement operations. When dealing with large amounts of text and complex matching rules, especially when batch replacement is required,replaceAllandreplaceFirstEspecially useful.

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