Java regex : matching a char except when preceded by another char

Question

I'm trying to use String.Split() to split a query, in that case a HiveQL query.

The case I have is I want to split along ; except when that ; is preceded by a \. My problem :

String.Split(";") 

is not enough.

String.Split("[^\\\\];") 

(i.e not a \ followed by a ;) applied on

select table; count table; 

will give groups "select tabl", " count tabl", so I lose the character before the ;.

Is there any solution ?

Answer 1

You need a negative lookbehind for that:

String.Split("(?<![\\\\]);");

Here is a demo on ideone.