How to split a command line like string?

Question

Basically, I need to split the string like

"one quoted argument" those are separate arguments "but not \"this one\""

to get in result the list of arguments

• "one quoted argument"
• those
• are
• separate
• "but not \"this one\""

This regex "(\"|[^"])*"|[^ ]+ nearly does the job but the issue is that regular expression always (at least in java) tries to match the longest string possible.

In consequence, when I apply the regex to a string that starts and ends with a quoted arguments, it matches the whole string and does not create a group for each argument.

Is there a way to tweak this regex or the matcher or the pattern or whatever to handle that?

Note: don't tell me I could use GetOpt or CommandLine.parse or anything else similar.
My concern is about pure java regex (if possible but I doubt it...).

Answer 1

You may use the non greedy qualifier *? to make it work:

"(\\"|[^"])*?"|[^ ]+

See this link for an example in action: http://gskinner.com/RegExr/?32srs

Answer 2

regular expression always (at least in java) tries to match the longest string possible.

Um... no.

That is controlled by if you use greedy or non-greedy expressions. See some examples. Using a non-greedy one (by adding a question mark) should do it. It's called lazy quantification.

The default is greedy, but it certainly doesn't mean it is always that way.