Java: replace "[" "]" from text files strings

Question

I'm using

str.replaceAll("GeoData[", "");

to replace "[" symbol in some strings in my text file, but I get:

Exception in thread "main" java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException: Unclosed character class near index 7
GeoData[
       ^
    at java.util.regex.Pattern.error(Pattern.java:1713)

how can I solve this ?

Answer 1

The method replaceAll interprets the argument as a regular expression. In a regular expression you must escape [ if you want its literal meaning otherwise it is interpreted as the start of a character class.

str = str.replaceAll("GeoData\\[", "");

If you didn't intend to use a regular expression then use replace instead, as Bozho mentions in his answer.

Answer 2

Use the non-regex method String.replace(..): str.replace("GeoData[", "")

(People tend to miss this method, because it takes a CharSequence as an argument, rather than a String. But String implements CharSequence)