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csorrows Please help - why isn't this pattern/matcher working?
I have been beating my head against the wall for hours trying to get this to work, and no luck. I have some simple debug code in an Apex trigger that I'm trying to use to extract a series of six digits out of a serial number field.
But no matter how I code the pattern, it never matches. Below is the sample code:
String debugAssetSn = 'AA-104999';
system.debug('debugAssetSn = ' + debugAssetSn);
Pattern debugPatternAssetSnNumberOnly = Pattern.compile('([0-9]{6})'); // Why isn't this matching???
Matcher debugMatcherAssetSnNumberOnly;
debugMatcherAssetSnNumberOnly = debugPatternAssetSnNumberOnly.matcher(debugAssetSn);
if (debugMatcherAssetSnNumberOnly.matches())
{system.debug('Pattern DID match.');
Integer debugAssetSnNumberOnly = integer.valueof(debugMatcherAssetSnNumberOnly.group(1));
system.debug('debugAssetSnNumberOnly = ' + debugAssetSnNumberOnly);
}
else
{system.debug('Pattern DID NOT match.');
}
The Pattern.compile is very simple - Just a capture group of six digits. But when I save the record and the trigger executes, it NEVER matches.
Even when I code the pattern compile as 'AA-104999' it never matches. It always falls through to the debug 'Pattern DID NOT match' section.
Any thoughts would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!
I think I might have figured it out. I'm guessing patterns match the entire string, not just a substring like what I'm used to with Perl regex's.
I changed the pattern.compile line to the below, and it seems to work now:
Pattern debugPatternAssetSnNumberOnly = Pattern.compile('.*?([0-9]{6})');
I had to put a non-greedy character pattern at the beginning before it would match. I'm guessing Java based patterns don't match substrings, but instead they match the entire string? (I'm not a Java guy - I'm used to Perl's regex's).