Suppose I have this block of code:
String x = "Hello ++ World!"; if(x.contains(" ++ ")) System.out.println(x.split(" ++ ")[0]); Why is it that when I execute this code I receive the output:
Hello ++ World! instead of Hello?It obviously has something to do with the split(), however, I can't figure it out.
The method String::split uses Regex for the split. Your expression " ++ " is a Regex and the + character has a special meaning. From the documentation:
Splits this string around matches of the given regular expression.
You have to escape these characters:
System.out.println(x.split(" \\+\\+ ")[0]); 
Because ++ it's interpreted as a regular expression. You need to escape it with backslash. Try this:
System.out.println(x.split(" \\+\\+ ")[0]);
Split method uses a regexp as argument, you should escape special characters like +. Try something like:
String x = "Hello ++ World!"; if(x.contains(" ++ ")) System.out.println(x.split("\\s\\+\\+\\s")[0]); 
splitaccepts a regular expression. The+character is a character with a special meaning in the context of regular expressions.String.split(String)treats the parameter as a regular expression where+has a special meaning. Trysplit(" \\+\\+ ")orsplit(Pattern.quote(" ++ "))instead.