Java vs JavaScript split behavior

Question

The split functionality seems to be different between Java and JavaScript.

I do not exactly need to match a certain regular expression criteria, or use lookahead based regex. My problem resides with empty matches being trailed after final matching of the split regex ( which is a simple set of character and not an expression ).

Below is an example of the output I am trying to achieve and what am I really getting.

Java

("~#~~#~~#~A~#~B~#~C~#~D~#~E~#~~#~~#~").split("~#~")

/* results with an array of length 8 */ (java.lang.String[]) [, , , A, B, C, D, E]

Javascript

 "~#~~#~~#~A~#~B~#~C~#~D~#~E~#~~#~~#~".split("~#~")
 /* results with an array of length 11 */ ["", "", "", "A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "", "", ""]

I really can't put my hands on a good explanation for this as I am working with a Java application and the split is causing me trouble, I want the same result as in JavaScript. How can I get that?

Answer 1

Javadoc on split(String regex):

This method works as if by invoking the two-argument split method with the given expression and a limit argument of zero. Trailing empty strings are therefore not included in the resulting array.

Javadoc on split(String regex, int limit):

If n is non-positive then the pattern will be applied as many times as possible and the array can have any length. If n is zero then the pattern will be applied as many times as possible, the array can have any length, and trailing empty strings will be discarded.

So... split("~#~", -1) should do the trick.

Answer 2

Java's split() documentation clearly mentions that the trailing empty strings will NOT be included.

This method works as if by invoking the two-argument split method with the given expression and a limit argument of zero. Trailing empty strings are therefore not included in the resulting array.

but you can achieve it by

("~#~~#~~#~A~#~B~#~C~#~D~#~E~#~~#~~#~").split("~#~" , -1)

which is an overloaded method