Class CharMatcher

  • All Implemented Interfaces:
    Predicate<java.lang.Character>

    @Beta
    @GwtCompatible(emulated=true)
    public abstract class CharMatcher
    extends java.lang.Object
    implements Predicate<java.lang.Character>
    Determines a true or false value for any Java char value, just as Predicate does for any Object. Also offers basic text processing methods based on this function. Implementations are strongly encouraged to be side-effect-free and immutable.

    Throughout the documentation of this class, the phrase "matching character" is used to mean "any character c for which this.matches(c) returns true".

    Note: This class deals only with char values; it does not understand supplementary Unicode code points in the range 0x10000 to 0x10FFFF. Such logical characters are encoded into a String using surrogate pairs, and a CharMatcher treats these just as two separate characters.

    Example usages:

       String trimmed = WHITESPACE.trimFrom(userInput);
       if (ASCII.matchesAllOf(s)) { ... }
     

    See the Guava User Guide article on CharMatcher.

    Since:
    1.0
    • Field Summary

      Fields 
      Modifier and Type Field Description
      static CharMatcher ANY
      Matches any character.
      static CharMatcher ASCII
      Determines whether a character is ASCII, meaning that its code point is less than 128.
      static CharMatcher BREAKING_WHITESPACE
      Determines whether a character is a breaking whitespace (that is, a whitespace which can be interpreted as a break between words for formatting purposes).
      static CharMatcher DIGIT
      Determines whether a character is a digit according to Unicode.
      static CharMatcher INVISIBLE
      Determines whether a character is invisible; that is, if its Unicode category is any of SPACE_SEPARATOR, LINE_SEPARATOR, PARAGRAPH_SEPARATOR, CONTROL, FORMAT, SURROGATE, and PRIVATE_USE according to ICU4J.
      static CharMatcher JAVA_DIGIT
      Determines whether a character is a digit according to Java's definition.
      static CharMatcher JAVA_ISO_CONTROL
      Determines whether a character is an ISO control character as specified by Character.isISOControl(char).
      static CharMatcher JAVA_LETTER
      Determines whether a character is a letter according to Java's definition.
      static CharMatcher JAVA_LETTER_OR_DIGIT
      Determines whether a character is a letter or digit according to Java's definition.
      static CharMatcher JAVA_LOWER_CASE
      Determines whether a character is lower case according to Java's definition.
      static CharMatcher JAVA_UPPER_CASE
      Determines whether a character is upper case according to Java's definition.
      static CharMatcher NONE
      Matches no characters.
      static CharMatcher SINGLE_WIDTH
      Determines whether a character is single-width (not double-width).
      static CharMatcher WHITESPACE
      Determines whether a character is whitespace according to the latest Unicode standard, as illustrated here.
    • Constructor Summary

      Constructors 
      Modifier Constructor Description
      protected CharMatcher()
      Constructor for use by subclasses.
    • Method Summary

      All Methods Static Methods Instance Methods Abstract Methods Concrete Methods Deprecated Methods 
      Modifier and Type Method Description
      CharMatcher and​(CharMatcher other)
      Returns a matcher that matches any character matched by both this matcher and other.
      static CharMatcher anyOf​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
      Returns a char matcher that matches any character present in the given character sequence.
      boolean apply​(java.lang.Character character)
      Deprecated.
      Provided only to satisfy the Predicate interface; use matches(char) instead.
      java.lang.String collapseFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence, char replacement)
      Returns a string copy of the input character sequence, with each group of consecutive characters that match this matcher replaced by a single replacement character.
      int countIn​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
      Returns the number of matching characters found in a character sequence.
      static CharMatcher forPredicate​(Predicate<? super java.lang.Character> predicate)
      Returns a matcher with identical behavior to the given Character-based predicate, but which operates on primitive char instances instead.
      int indexIn​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
      Returns the index of the first matching character in a character sequence, or -1 if no matching character is present.
      int indexIn​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence, int start)
      Returns the index of the first matching character in a character sequence, starting from a given position, or -1 if no character matches after that position.
      static CharMatcher inRange​(char startInclusive, char endInclusive)
      Returns a char matcher that matches any character in a given range (both endpoints are inclusive).
      static CharMatcher is​(char match)
      Returns a char matcher that matches only one specified character.
      static CharMatcher isNot​(char match)
      Returns a char matcher that matches any character except the one specified.
      int lastIndexIn​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
      Returns the index of the last matching character in a character sequence, or -1 if no matching character is present.
      abstract boolean matches​(char c)
      Determines a true or false value for the given character.
      boolean matchesAllOf​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
      Returns true if a character sequence contains only matching characters.
      boolean matchesAnyOf​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
      Returns true if a character sequence contains at least one matching character.
      boolean matchesNoneOf​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
      Returns true if a character sequence contains no matching characters.
      CharMatcher negate()
      Returns a matcher that matches any character not matched by this matcher.
      static CharMatcher noneOf​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
      Returns a char matcher that matches any character not present in the given character sequence.
      CharMatcher or​(CharMatcher other)
      Returns a matcher that matches any character matched by either this matcher or other.
      CharMatcher precomputed()
      Returns a char matcher functionally equivalent to this one, but which may be faster to query than the original; your mileage may vary.
      java.lang.String removeFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
      Returns a string containing all non-matching characters of a character sequence, in order.
      java.lang.String replaceFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence, char replacement)
      Returns a string copy of the input character sequence, with each character that matches this matcher replaced by a given replacement character.
      java.lang.String replaceFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence, java.lang.CharSequence replacement)
      Returns a string copy of the input character sequence, with each character that matches this matcher replaced by a given replacement sequence.
      java.lang.String retainFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
      Returns a string containing all matching characters of a character sequence, in order.
      java.lang.String toString()
      Returns a string representation of this CharMatcher, such as CharMatcher.or(WHITESPACE, JAVA_DIGIT).
      java.lang.String trimAndCollapseFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence, char replacement)
      Collapses groups of matching characters exactly as collapseFrom(java.lang.CharSequence, char) does, except that groups of matching characters at the start or end of the sequence are removed without replacement.
      java.lang.String trimFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
      Returns a substring of the input character sequence that omits all characters this matcher matches from the beginning and from the end of the string.
      java.lang.String trimLeadingFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
      Returns a substring of the input character sequence that omits all characters this matcher matches from the beginning of the string.
      java.lang.String trimTrailingFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
      Returns a substring of the input character sequence that omits all characters this matcher matches from the end of the string.
      • Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

        clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait
    • Field Detail

      • BREAKING_WHITESPACE

        public static final CharMatcher BREAKING_WHITESPACE
        Determines whether a character is a breaking whitespace (that is, a whitespace which can be interpreted as a break between words for formatting purposes). See WHITESPACE for a discussion of that term.
        Since:
        2.0
      • ASCII

        public static final CharMatcher ASCII
        Determines whether a character is ASCII, meaning that its code point is less than 128.
      • DIGIT

        public static final CharMatcher DIGIT
        Determines whether a character is a digit according to Unicode. If you only care to match ASCII digits, you can use inRange('0', '9').
      • JAVA_DIGIT

        public static final CharMatcher JAVA_DIGIT
        Determines whether a character is a digit according to Java's definition. If you only care to match ASCII digits, you can use inRange('0', '9').
      • JAVA_LETTER

        public static final CharMatcher JAVA_LETTER
        Determines whether a character is a letter according to Java's definition. If you only care to match letters of the Latin alphabet, you can use inRange('a', 'z').or(inRange('A', 'Z')).
      • JAVA_LETTER_OR_DIGIT

        public static final CharMatcher JAVA_LETTER_OR_DIGIT
        Determines whether a character is a letter or digit according to Java's definition.
      • JAVA_UPPER_CASE

        public static final CharMatcher JAVA_UPPER_CASE
        Determines whether a character is upper case according to Java's definition.
      • JAVA_LOWER_CASE

        public static final CharMatcher JAVA_LOWER_CASE
        Determines whether a character is lower case according to Java's definition.
      • JAVA_ISO_CONTROL

        public static final CharMatcher JAVA_ISO_CONTROL
        Determines whether a character is an ISO control character as specified by Character.isISOControl(char).
      • INVISIBLE

        public static final CharMatcher INVISIBLE
        Determines whether a character is invisible; that is, if its Unicode category is any of SPACE_SEPARATOR, LINE_SEPARATOR, PARAGRAPH_SEPARATOR, CONTROL, FORMAT, SURROGATE, and PRIVATE_USE according to ICU4J.
      • SINGLE_WIDTH

        public static final CharMatcher SINGLE_WIDTH
        Determines whether a character is single-width (not double-width). When in doubt, this matcher errs on the side of returning false (that is, it tends to assume a character is double-width).

        Note: as the reference file evolves, we will modify this constant to keep it up to date.

      • ANY

        public static final CharMatcher ANY
        Matches any character.
      • NONE

        public static final CharMatcher NONE
        Matches no characters.
      • WHITESPACE

        public static final CharMatcher WHITESPACE
        Determines whether a character is whitespace according to the latest Unicode standard, as illustrated here. This is not the same definition used by other Java APIs. (See a comparison of several definitions of "whitespace".)

        Note: as the Unicode definition evolves, we will modify this constant to keep it up to date.

    • Constructor Detail

      • CharMatcher

        protected CharMatcher()
        Constructor for use by subclasses. When subclassing, you may want to override toString() to provide a useful description.
    • Method Detail

      • is

        public static CharMatcher is​(char match)
        Returns a char matcher that matches only one specified character.
      • isNot

        public static CharMatcher isNot​(char match)
        Returns a char matcher that matches any character except the one specified.

        To negate another CharMatcher, use negate().

      • anyOf

        public static CharMatcher anyOf​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
        Returns a char matcher that matches any character present in the given character sequence.
      • noneOf

        public static CharMatcher noneOf​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
        Returns a char matcher that matches any character not present in the given character sequence.
      • inRange

        public static CharMatcher inRange​(char startInclusive,
                                          char endInclusive)
        Returns a char matcher that matches any character in a given range (both endpoints are inclusive). For example, to match any lowercase letter of the English alphabet, use CharMatcher.inRange('a', 'z').
        Throws:
        java.lang.IllegalArgumentException - if endInclusive < startInclusive
      • forPredicate

        public static CharMatcher forPredicate​(Predicate<? super java.lang.Character> predicate)
        Returns a matcher with identical behavior to the given Character-based predicate, but which operates on primitive char instances instead.
      • matches

        public abstract boolean matches​(char c)
        Determines a true or false value for the given character.
      • negate

        public CharMatcher negate()
        Returns a matcher that matches any character not matched by this matcher.
      • and

        public CharMatcher and​(CharMatcher other)
        Returns a matcher that matches any character matched by both this matcher and other.
      • or

        public CharMatcher or​(CharMatcher other)
        Returns a matcher that matches any character matched by either this matcher or other.
      • precomputed

        public CharMatcher precomputed()
        Returns a char matcher functionally equivalent to this one, but which may be faster to query than the original; your mileage may vary. Precomputation takes time and is likely to be worthwhile only if the precomputed matcher is queried many thousands of times.

        This method has no effect (returns this) when called in GWT: it's unclear whether a precomputed matcher is faster, but it certainly consumes more memory, which doesn't seem like a worthwhile tradeoff in a browser.

      • matchesAnyOf

        public boolean matchesAnyOf​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
        Returns true if a character sequence contains at least one matching character. Equivalent to !matchesNoneOf(sequence).

        The default implementation iterates over the sequence, invoking matches(char) for each character, until this returns true or the end is reached.

        Parameters:
        sequence - the character sequence to examine, possibly empty
        Returns:
        true if this matcher matches at least one character in the sequence
        Since:
        8.0
      • matchesAllOf

        public boolean matchesAllOf​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
        Returns true if a character sequence contains only matching characters.

        The default implementation iterates over the sequence, invoking matches(char) for each character, until this returns false or the end is reached.

        Parameters:
        sequence - the character sequence to examine, possibly empty
        Returns:
        true if this matcher matches every character in the sequence, including when the sequence is empty
      • matchesNoneOf

        public boolean matchesNoneOf​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
        Returns true if a character sequence contains no matching characters. Equivalent to !matchesAnyOf(sequence).

        The default implementation iterates over the sequence, invoking matches(char) for each character, until this returns false or the end is reached.

        Parameters:
        sequence - the character sequence to examine, possibly empty
        Returns:
        true if this matcher matches every character in the sequence, including when the sequence is empty
      • indexIn

        public int indexIn​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
        Returns the index of the first matching character in a character sequence, or -1 if no matching character is present.

        The default implementation iterates over the sequence in forward order calling matches(char) for each character.

        Parameters:
        sequence - the character sequence to examine from the beginning
        Returns:
        an index, or -1 if no character matches
      • indexIn

        public int indexIn​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence,
                           int start)
        Returns the index of the first matching character in a character sequence, starting from a given position, or -1 if no character matches after that position.

        The default implementation iterates over the sequence in forward order, beginning at start, calling matches(char) for each character.

        Parameters:
        sequence - the character sequence to examine
        start - the first index to examine; must be nonnegative and no greater than sequence.length()
        Returns:
        the index of the first matching character, guaranteed to be no less than start, or -1 if no character matches
        Throws:
        java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException - if start is negative or greater than sequence.length()
      • lastIndexIn

        public int lastIndexIn​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
        Returns the index of the last matching character in a character sequence, or -1 if no matching character is present.

        The default implementation iterates over the sequence in reverse order calling matches(char) for each character.

        Parameters:
        sequence - the character sequence to examine from the end
        Returns:
        an index, or -1 if no character matches
      • countIn

        public int countIn​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
        Returns the number of matching characters found in a character sequence.
      • removeFrom

        @CheckReturnValue
        public java.lang.String removeFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
        Returns a string containing all non-matching characters of a character sequence, in order. For example:
            
        
           CharMatcher.is('a').removeFrom("bazaar")
         
        ... returns "bzr".
      • retainFrom

        @CheckReturnValue
        public java.lang.String retainFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
        Returns a string containing all matching characters of a character sequence, in order. For example:
            
        
           CharMatcher.is('a').retainFrom("bazaar")
         
        ... returns "aaa".
      • replaceFrom

        @CheckReturnValue
        public java.lang.String replaceFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence,
                                            char replacement)
        Returns a string copy of the input character sequence, with each character that matches this matcher replaced by a given replacement character. For example:
            
        
           CharMatcher.is('a').replaceFrom("radar", 'o')
         
        ... returns "rodor".

        The default implementation uses indexIn(CharSequence) to find the first matching character, then iterates the remainder of the sequence calling matches(char) for each character.

        Parameters:
        sequence - the character sequence to replace matching characters in
        replacement - the character to append to the result string in place of each matching character in sequence
        Returns:
        the new string
      • replaceFrom

        @CheckReturnValue
        public java.lang.String replaceFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence,
                                            java.lang.CharSequence replacement)
        Returns a string copy of the input character sequence, with each character that matches this matcher replaced by a given replacement sequence. For example:
            
        
           CharMatcher.is('a').replaceFrom("yaha", "oo")
         
        ... returns "yoohoo".

        Note: If the replacement is a fixed string with only one character, you are better off calling replaceFrom(CharSequence, char) directly.

        Parameters:
        sequence - the character sequence to replace matching characters in
        replacement - the characters to append to the result string in place of each matching character in sequence
        Returns:
        the new string
      • trimFrom

        @CheckReturnValue
        public java.lang.String trimFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
        Returns a substring of the input character sequence that omits all characters this matcher matches from the beginning and from the end of the string. For example:
            
        
           CharMatcher.anyOf("ab").trimFrom("abacatbab")
         
        ... returns "cat".

        Note that:

            
        
           CharMatcher.inRange('\0', ' ').trimFrom(str)
         
        ... is equivalent to String.trim().
      • trimLeadingFrom

        @CheckReturnValue
        public java.lang.String trimLeadingFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
        Returns a substring of the input character sequence that omits all characters this matcher matches from the beginning of the string. For example:
          
        
           CharMatcher.anyOf("ab").trimLeadingFrom("abacatbab")
         
        ... returns "catbab".
      • trimTrailingFrom

        @CheckReturnValue
        public java.lang.String trimTrailingFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence)
        Returns a substring of the input character sequence that omits all characters this matcher matches from the end of the string. For example:
          
        
           CharMatcher.anyOf("ab").trimTrailingFrom("abacatbab")
         
        ... returns "abacat".
      • collapseFrom

        @CheckReturnValue
        public java.lang.String collapseFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence,
                                             char replacement)
        Returns a string copy of the input character sequence, with each group of consecutive characters that match this matcher replaced by a single replacement character. For example:
            
        
           CharMatcher.anyOf("eko").collapseFrom("bookkeeper", '-')
         
        ... returns "b-p-r".

        The default implementation uses indexIn(CharSequence) to find the first matching character, then iterates the remainder of the sequence calling matches(char) for each character.

        Parameters:
        sequence - the character sequence to replace matching groups of characters in
        replacement - the character to append to the result string in place of each group of matching characters in sequence
        Returns:
        the new string
      • trimAndCollapseFrom

        @CheckReturnValue
        public java.lang.String trimAndCollapseFrom​(java.lang.CharSequence sequence,
                                                    char replacement)
        Collapses groups of matching characters exactly as collapseFrom(java.lang.CharSequence, char) does, except that groups of matching characters at the start or end of the sequence are removed without replacement.
      • apply

        @Deprecated
        public boolean apply​(java.lang.Character character)
        Deprecated.
        Provided only to satisfy the Predicate interface; use matches(char) instead.
        Description copied from interface: Predicate
        Returns the result of applying this predicate to input. This method is generally expected, but not absolutely required, to have the following properties:
        • Its execution does not cause any observable side effects.
        • The computation is consistent with equals; that is, Objects.equal(a, b) implies that predicate.apply(a) == predicate.apply(b)).
        Specified by:
        apply in interface Predicate<java.lang.Character>
      • toString

        public java.lang.String toString()
        Returns a string representation of this CharMatcher, such as CharMatcher.or(WHITESPACE, JAVA_DIGIT).
        Overrides:
        toString in class java.lang.Object