Question

I know how to find a method in java using a fixed string,

someClass.getMethod('foobar', argTypes); 

but is there a way to use a regular expression rather than a fixed string to find a method on a given class?

An example of the usage might be if I wanted to find a method that was called either ‘foobar’ or ‘fooBar’. Using a regular expression like ‘foo[Bb]ar’ would match either of these method names.

Answer 1

You should apply your regexp on getDeclaredMethods() reflection method (or GetMethods() if you want only the public ones).

[Warning: both methods will throw a SecurityException if there is a security manager.]

You apply it on each name of each method returned by getDeclaredMethod() and only memorize in a Collection the compliant Methods.

Something like!

try {   final Pattern aMethodNamePattern = Pattern.compile('foo[Bb]ar');   final List<Method> someMethods = aClass.getDeclaredMethods();   final List<Method> someCompliantMethods = new ArrayList<Method>();   for(final Method aMethod: someMethods)   {     final String aMethodName = aMethod.getName();     final Matcher aMethodNameMatcher = aMethodNamePattern.getMatcher(aMethodName);     if(aMethodNameMatcher.matches() == true)     {        someCompliantMethods.add(aMethod);     } } catch(...) // catch all exceptions like SecurityException, IllegalAccessException, ...