Java regex - overlapping matches

Question

In the following code:

public static void main(String[] args) {

    List<String> allMatches = new ArrayList<String>();

    Matcher m = Pattern.compile("\\d+\\D+\\d+").matcher("2abc3abc4abc5");

    while (m.find()) {

        allMatches.add(m.group());

    }



    String[] res = allMatches.toArray(new String[0]);

    System.out.println(Arrays.toString(res));

}

The result is:

[2abc3, 4abc5]

I'd like it to be

[2abc3, 3abc4, 4abc5]

How can it be achieved?

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Answer 1

Make the matcher attempt to start its next scan from the latter \d+.

Matcher m = Pattern.compile("\\d+\\D+(\\d+)").matcher("2abc3abc4abc5");
if (m.find()) {
    do {
        allMatches.add(m.group());
    } while (m.find(m.start(1)));
}

Java regex - overlapping matches

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