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Java

Posted by Arnold Rosario
Arnold Rosario
16,357 Points

What are the brackets for? Ex: [^\\w#@']+, and why is the '+' outside the brackets?

I'm confused on what the brackets are for and why the plus sign is outside the brackets.

1 Answer

Ryan Ruscett
Ryan Ruscett
23,309 Points

Hola,

Ex: [^\w#@']+

Well the [] represent the container in which my pattern will be defined within. I am searching for a pattern contained within the []. Except I don't just want to match it one time. I want to match it more than once.

So I say search for a patterned defined inside [] and find all occurrences of what is inside the pattern with +

For example: hello, did you know hello is a greeting?

If I want to search for a pattern. I need to define the pattern in which to search for. I do this inside []

[hello]

But there are 2 hello's not just 1. If I want to find all patterns that match. I put + outside the pattern I am searching for

[hello]+

Does that make sense?

Arnold Rosario
Arnold Rosario
16,357 Points

Makes sense, thank you!