Question

I want to know (with examples!) if there is a way to search through a list (not a file) and if it’s found replace it.

Background: Making a server but I want it to censor swear words and the system i have works it’s just not efficient enough.

Current Code:

     String impmessage = message.replaceAll("swearword1", "f***");
     String impmessage2 = impmessage.replaceAll("swearword2", "bi***");
     String impmessage3 = impmessage2.replaceAll("swearword3", "b***");
     String impmessage4 = impmessage3.replaceAll("swearword4", "w***");
     ...
     String impmessage8 = impmessage7.replace('%', '&');

The whole shabang. But when I want to add a new word into the filter I have to add another one on there.

Answer 1

Your basic solution is below:

Map<String, String> mapping = new HashMap();
mapping.put("frak","f***");

String censoredMsg = message;
for (String word : mapping.KeySet()) {
  censoredMsg = censoredMsg.replaceAll(word, mapping.get(word));
}

How you create the mapping is somewhat up to you. Here is another more comprehensive solution including pulling in from a random file:

public class TheMan {
  private Set<String> uglyWords;

  public TheMan() {
    getBlacklist();
  }

  private void getBlacklist() {
    Scanner scanner = new Scanner(new File("wordsidontlike.txt"));
    while (scanner.hasNext()) {
      String word = scanner.nextLine();
      uglyWords.add(word);
    }
  }

  public String censorMessage(String message) {
    String censoredMsg = message;
    for (String word : uglyWords) {
      String replacement = word.charAt(0);
      StringUtils.rightPad(replacement, word.length(), '*');
      censoredMsg = censoredMsg.replaceAll(word, replacement);
    }
    return censoredMsg;
  }
}