Java using regex to verify an input string

Question

g.:

String string="Marc Louie, Garduque Bautista";

I want to check if a string contains only words, a comma and spaces. i have tried to use regex and the closest I got is this :

String pattern = "[a-zA-Z]+(\\s[a-zA-Z]+)+";

but it doesnt check if there is a comma in there or not. Any suggestion ?

Answer 1

You need to use the pattern

^[A-Za-z, ]++$

For example

public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
    final String input = "Marc Louie, Garduque Bautista";
    final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("^[A-Za-z, ]++$");
    if (!pattern.matcher(input).matches()) {
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid String");
    }
}

EDIT

As per Michael's astute comment the OP might mean a single comma, in which case

^[A-Za-z ]++,[A-Za-z ]++$

Ought to work.

Answer 2

Why not just simply:

"[a-zA-Z\\s,]+"