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Masking using regular expressions for below format

I am trying to write a regular expression to mask the below string. Example below.
Input
A1../D//FASDFAS--DFASD//.F
Output (Skip first five and last two Alphanumeric's)
A1../D//FA***********D//.F
I am trying using below regex
([A-Za-z0-9]{5})(.*)(.{2})
Any help would be highly appreciated.

You solve your issue by using Pattern and Matcher with a regex which match multiple groups :
String str = "A1../D//FASDFAS--DFASD//.F";
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("(.*?\\/\\/..)(.*?)(.\\/\\/.*)");
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(str);
if (matcher.find()) {
str = matcher.group(1)
+ matcher.group(2).replaceAll(".", "*")
+ matcher.group(3);
}
Detail
(.*?\\/\\/..) first group to match every thing until //
(.*?) second group to match every thing between group one and three
(.\\/\\/.*) third group to match every thing after the last character before the // until the end of string
Outputs
A1../D//FA***********D//.F
I think this solution is more readable.

If you want to do that with a single regex you may use
text = text.replaceAll("(\\G(?!^|(?:[0-9A-Za-z][^0-9A-Za-z]*){2}$)|^(?:[^0-9A-Za-z]*[0-9A-Za-z]){5}).", "$1*");
Or, using the POSIX character class Alnum:
text = text.replaceAll("(\\G(?!^|(?:\\p{Alnum}\\P{Alnum}*){2}$)|^(?:\\P{Alnum}*\\p{Alnum}){5}).", "$1*");
See the Java demo and the regex demo. If you plan to replace any code point rather than a single code unit with an asterisk, replace . with \P{M}\p{M}*+ ("\\P{M}\\p{M}*+").
To make . match line break chars, add (?s) at the start of the pattern.
Details
(\G(?!^|(?:[0-9A-Za-z][^0-9A-Za-z]*){2}$)|^(?:[^0-9A-Za-z]*[0-9A-Za-z]){5}) -
\G(?!^|(?:[0-9A-Za-z][^0-9A-Za-z]*){2}$) - a location after the successful match that is not followed with 2 occurrences of an alphanumeric char followed with 0 or more chars other than alphanumeric chars
| - or
^(?:[^0-9A-Za-z]*[0-9A-Za-z]){5} - start of string, followed with five occurrences of 0 or more non-alphanumeric chars followed with an alphanumeric char
. - any code unit other than line break characters (if you use \P{M}\p{M}*+ - any code point).

Usually, masking of characters in the middle of a string can be done using negative lookbehind (?<!) and positive lookahead groups (?=).
But in this case lookbehind group can't be used because it does not have an obvious maximum length due to unpredictable number of non-alphanumeric characters between first five alphanumeric characters (. and / in the A1../D//FA).
A substring method can used as a workaround for inability to use negative lookbehind group:
String str = "A1../D//FASDFAS--DFASD//.F";
int start = str.replaceAll("^((?:\\W{0,}\\w{1}){5}).*", "$1").length();
String maskedStr = str.substring(0, start) +
str.substring(start).replaceAll(".(?=(?:\\W{0,}\\w{1}){2})", "*");
System.out.println(maskedStr);
// A1../D//FA***********D//.F
But the most straightforward way is to use java.util.regex.Pattern and java.util.regex.Matcher:
String str = "A1../D//FASDFAS--DFASD//.F";
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("^((?:\\W{0,}\\w{1}){5})(.+)((?:\\W{0,}\\w{1}){2})");
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(str);
if (matcher.find()) {
String maskedStr = matcher.group(1) +
"*".repeat(matcher.group(2).length()) +
matcher.group(3);
System.out.println(maskedStr);
// A1../D//FA***********D//.F
}
\W{0,} - 0 or more non-alphanumeric characters
\w{1} - exactly 1 alphanumeric character
(\W{0,}\w{1}){5} - 5 alphanumeric characters and any number of alphanumeric characters in between
(?:\W{0,}\w{1}){5} - do not capture as a group
^((?:\\W{0,}\\w{1}){5})(.+)((?:\\W{0,}\\w{1}){2})$ - substring with first five alphanumeric characters (group 1), everything else (group 2), substring with last 2 alphanumeric characters (group 3)

Find all subsequences within double squared brackets

My input text looks like this:
..some_text0 [[some_text1]] some_text2 [[some_text3]] some_text4 ....
I want to extract all texts contained within double squared brackets, or I want to obtain separately the groups:
some_text1
some_text3
I tried this solution:
Matcher m = Pattern.compile("\\[\\[.*\\]\\]").matcher(line_input);
while (m.find()) {
System.out.println("Found: " + matcher.group());
}
but this prints me:
[[some_text1]] some_text2 [[some_text3]]
as only result. How to achieve my goal?

The regex for this task is as below
\[\[(.*?)]]
It searches for the [[ follow by any string that closes with ]]
Here is DEMO and explanation

Using \[\[.*?]] regex that is just slow and . does not match a newline by default, you might confront an issue when backtracking limit is exhausted if you parse very long strings.
I suggest using a regex based on the unrolling-the-loop method:
\[{2}([^\]]*(?:\](?!\])[^\]]*)*)\]{2}
Or even a shorter
\[{2}([^\]]*(?:\][^\]]+)*)\]{2}
See regex demo 1 and demo 2.
Here is a Java demo:
String str = "some_text0 [[some_text1]] some_text2 [[some_text3]] some_text4";
Pattern ptrn = Pattern.compile("\\[{2}([^\\]]*(?:\\][^\\]]+)*)\\]{2}");
Matcher matcher = ptrn.matcher(str);
while (matcher.find()) {
System.out.println(matcher.group(1));
}
Result:
some_text1
some_text3
Regex breakdown:
\[{2} - match exactly 2 [ symbols
[^\]]* - match 0 or more symbols other than ]
(?:\][^\]]+)* - match 0 or more sequences of...
\] - a single ] that is followed by
[^\]]+ - 1 or more symbols other than ]
\]{2} - match exactly 2 ] symbols.
The difference from .*?-based regex is that matching becomes more linear and thus the regex pattern is much faster and less error prone.

Parsing array syntax using regex

I think what I am asking is either very trivial or already asked, but I have had a hard time finding answers.
We need to capture the inner number characters between brackets within a given string.
so given the string
StringWithMultiArrayAccess[0][9][4][45][1]
and the regex
^\w*?(\[(\d+)\])+?
I would expect 6 capture groups and access to the inner data.
However, I end up only capturing the last "1" character in capture group 2.
If it is important heres my java junit test:
#Test
public void ensureThatJsonHandlerCanHandleNestedArrays(){
String stringWithArr = "StringWithMultiArray[0][0][4][45][1]";
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("^\\w*?(\\[(\\d+)\\])+?");
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(stringWithArr);
matcher.find();
assertTrue(matcher.matches()); //passes
System.out.println(matcher.group(2)); //prints 1 (matched from last array symbols)
assertEquals("0", matcher.group(2)); //expected but its 1 not zero
assertEquals("45", matcher.group(5)); //only 2 capture groups exist, the whole string and the 1 from the last array brackets
}

In order to capture each number, you need to change your regex so it (a) captures a single number and (b) is not anchored to--and therefore limited by--any other part of the string ("^\w*?" anchors it to the start of the string). Then you can loop through them:
Matcher mtchr = Pattern.compile("\\[(\\d+)\\]").matcher(arrayAsStr);
while(mtchr.find()) {
System.out.print(mtchr.group(1) + " ");
}
Output:
0 9 4 45 1

Regex - Match numbers & special cases

I'm trying to make a regex that would produce the following results :
for 7.0 + 5 - :asc + (8.256 - :b)^2 + :d/3 : 7.0, 5, :asc, 8.256, :b, 2, :d, 3
for -+*-/^^ )ç# : nothing
It's should first match numbers which can be float, so in my regex I have : [0-9]+(\\.[0-9])? but it should also mach special cases like :a or :Abc.
To be more precise, it should (if possible) match anything but mathematical operators /*+^- and parentheses.
So here is my final regex : ([0-9]+(\\.[0-9])?)|(:[a-zA-Z]+) but it's not working because matcher.groupCount() returns 3 for both of the examples I gave.

Groups are what you specifically group in the regex. Anything surrounded in parentheses is a group. (Hello) World has 1 group, Hello. What you need to be doing is finding all the matches.
In your code ([0-9]+(\\.[0-9])?)|(:[a-zA-Z]+), 3 sets of parentheses can be seen. This is why you will always be given 3 groups in every match.
Your code works fine as it is, here is an example:
String text = "7.0 + 5 - :asc + (8.256 - :b)^2 + :d/3";
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("([0-9]+(\\.[0-9]+)?)|(:[a-zA-Z]+)");
Matcher m = p.matcher(text);
List<String> matches = new ArrayList<String>();
while (m.find()) matches.add(m.group());
for (String match : matches) System.out.println(match);
The ArrayList matches will contain all of the matches that your regex finds.
The only change I made was add a + after the second [0-9].
Here is the output:
7.0
5
:asc
8.256
:b
2
:d
3
Here is some more information about groups in java.
Does that help?

Your regex is correct, run the following code:
String input = "7.0 + 5 - :asc + (8.256 - :b)^2 + :d/3"; // your input
String regex = "(\\d+(\\.\\d+)?)|(:[a-z-A-Z]+)"; // exactly yours.
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex);
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(input);
while (matcher.find()) {
System.out.println(matcher.group());
}
Your problem is the understanding of the method matcher.groupCount(). JavaDoc clearly says
Returns the number of capturing groups in this matcher's pattern.

([^\()+\-*\s])+ //put any mathematical operator inside square bracket

Author and time matching regex

I would to use a regex in my Java program to recognize some feature of my strings.
I've this type of string:
`-Author- has wrote (-hh-:-mm-)
So, for example, I've a string with:
Cecco has wrote (15:12)
and i've to extract author, hh and mm fields. Obviously I've some restriction to consider:
hh and mm must be numbers
author hasn't any restrictions
I've to consider space between "has wrote" and (
How can I can use regex?
EDIT: I attach my snippet:
String mRegex = "(\\s)+ has wrote \\((\\d\\d):(\\d\\d)\\)";
Pattern mPattern = Pattern.compile(mRegex);
String[] str = {
"Cecco CQ has wrote (14:55)", //OK (matched)
"yesterday you has wrote that I'm crazy", //NO (different text)
"Simon has wrote (yesterday)", // NO (yesterday isn't numbers)
"John has wrote (22:32)", //OK
"James has wrote(22:11)", //NO (missed space between has wrote and ()
"Tommy has wrote (xx:ss)" //NO (xx and ss aren't numbers)
};
for(String s : str) {
Matcher mMatcher = mPattern.matcher(s);
while (mMatcher.find()) {
System.out.println(mMatcher.group());
}
}

homework?
Something like:
(.+) has wrote \((\d\d):(\d\d)\)
Should do the trick
() - mark groups to capture (there are three in the above)
.+ - any chars (you said no restrictions)
\d - any digit
\(\) escape the parens as literals instead of a capturing group
use:
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("(.+) has wrote \\((\\d\\d):(\\d\\d)\\)");
Matcher m = p.matcher("Gareth has wrote (12:00)");
if( m.matches()){
System.out.println(m.group(1));
System.out.println(m.group(2));
System.out.println(m.group(3));
}
To cope with an optional (HH:mm) at the end you need to start to use some dark regex voodoo:
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("(.+) has wrote\\s?(?:\\((\\d\\d):(\\d\\d)\\))?");
Matcher m = p.matcher("Gareth has wrote (12:00)");
if( m.matches()){
System.out.println(m.group(1));
System.out.println(m.group(2));
System.out.println(m.group(3));
}
m = p.matcher("Gareth has wrote");
if( m.matches()){
System.out.println(m.group(1));
// m.group(2) == null since it didn't match anything
}
The new unescaped pattern:
(.+) has wrote\s?(?:\((\d\d):(\d\d)\))?
\s? optionally match a space (there might not be a space at the end if there isn't a (HH:mm) group
(?: ... ) is a none capturing group, i.e. allows use to put ? after it to make is optional
I think #codinghorror has something to say about regex

The easiest way to figure out regular expressions is to use a testing tool before coding.
I use an eclipse plugin from http://www.brosinski.com/regex/
Using this I came up with the following result:
([a-zA-Z]*) has wrote \((\d\d):(\d\d)\)
Cecco has wrote (15:12)
Found 1 match(es):
start=0, end=23
Group(0) = Cecco has wrote (15:12)
Group(1) = Cecco
Group(2) = 15
Group(3) = 12
An excellent turorial on regular expression syntax can be found at http://www.regular-expressions.info/tutorial.html

Well, just in case you didn't know, Matcher has a nice function that can draw out specific groups, or parts of the pattern enclosed by (), Matcher.group(int). Like if I wanted to match for a number between two semicolons like:
:22:
I could use the regex ":(\\d+):" to match one or more digits between two semicolons, and then I can fetch specifically the digits with:
Matcher.group(1)
And then its just a matter of parsing the String into an int. As a note, group numbering starts at 1. group(0) is the whole match, so Matcher.group(0) for the previous example would return :22:
For your case, I think the regex bits you need to consider are
"[A-Za-z]" for alphabet characters (you could probably also safely use "\\w", which matchers alphabet characters, as well as numbers and _).
"\\d" for digits (1,2,3...)
"+" for indicating you want one or more of the previous character or group.