Question

Possible Duplicate:
Assigning an array to an ArrayList in Java
java: how to convert this string to ArrayList?
How to convert a String into an ArrayList?

I have this String :

["word1","word2","word3","word4"]

The above text is not an array, but a string returned from server via GCM (Google Cloud Messaging) communication. More specific, inside a GCM class i have this:

protected void onMessage(Context context, Intent intent) {

String message = intent.getExtras().getString("cabmate");

   }

The value of the String message is ["word1","word2","word3","word4"]

Is there a way to convert it in List or ArrayList in Java?

Answer 1

Something like this:

/*
@invariant The "Word" fields cannot have commas in thier values or the conversion
to a list will cause bad field breaks. CSV data sucks...
*/
public List<String> stringFormatedToStringList(String s) {
  // oneliner for the win:
  return Arrays.asList(s.substring(1,s.length()-1).replaceAll("\"","").split(","));
  // .substring  removes the first an last characters from the string ('[' & ']')
  // .replaceAll removes all quotation marks from the string (replaces with empty string)
  // .split brakes the string into a string array on commas (omitting the commas)
  // Arrays.asList converts the array to a List
}