RE: [xml-dev] [OT] bugs in JDK regex engine ?

["Michael Kay" <mike@saxonica.com>]

> Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("<[^/]+>"); 
> 
> I am expecting output:
> <root>
> <abc x='1'>
> <pqr y='1'>
> 
> But the output produced by the above program is:
> <root><abc x='1'>
> <pqr y='1'>
> 
> You could notice, that the 1st token is larger ...
> 
"+" is a greedy quantifier, it matches the longest string it can. To match
the shortest string, use [^/]+? or you could try [^/<]+

But as Amy points out, we're not helping you. We're just taking you one step
further to demonstrating what is already known as a theoretical result -
this problem can't be solved using regular expressions.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/