Question

I would like to remove character “|” by using String#replaceAll() method.
But first parameter is recognized regex meta character.

I tried replaceAll("\|", ""); with escape character, but it cannot be compiled.

Are there any way to remove or replace “|” character by Java?

Answer 1

You need to double-escape the | when using replaceAll(), like:

myString.replaceAll("\\|", "");

This is because your string actually gets parsed twice, first as a literal string and then as a regular expression. So when you start with "\\|" the first parse gives you a literal string of \|, which the regex parser then recognizes as |. This can be a bit confusing until you get used to it.