Question

I can’t find out why my regex does not match a line when using java’s String.matches method – it does match using on online regex tester.

Here is the Java-Code:

line.trim().replaceAll(" +", " ").matches("(const )?[a-zA-Z0-9\\*]*\\ [a-zA-Z0-9\\*]*[,|)]");

and the line that should be matched:

bool fLoad)   // somecomment

Does anybody have any ideas why this is so?

Answer 1

matches() means it should match completely, i.e. the whole string fits the RE. Your RE does not allow anything after the ‘)’. Try using find() instead matches().