How to Properly Escape the Pipe Symbol for String Splitting in Java?

Escaping the Pipe Symbol for String Splitting in Java

The Java String class provides the split() method to divide a string into an array of substrings using a delimiter character or a regular expression. When splitting by a pipe symbol (|), the unexpected behavior arises because the pipe symbol is a metacharacter in regular expressions.

The issue stems from the rules of regular expressions:

• The pipe symbol (|) represents the OR operator in regular expressions.
• In Java strings, the backslash character () is an escape character.

Therefore, when using test.split("|"), the | character is interpreted as an OR operator, not as a literal pipe symbol. To resolve this, you need to escape the pipe symbol using .

Solution 1: Escape the Pipe Symbol

To escape the pipe symbol, use a double backslash, written as \ within a string. This will instruct Java that the | should be treated as a literal character, not as a metacharacter.

String test = "A|B|C||D";
String[] result = test.split("\|");

Solution 2: Use Pattern.quote()

Alternatively, you can use the Pattern.quote() method to create an escaped version of the pipe symbol.

String test = "A|B|C||D";
Pattern pattern = Pattern.quote("|");
String[] result = test.split(pattern);

Expected Output:

Both solutions will produce the desired output:

>A<
>B<
>C<
><
>D<

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