Normalizing slashes from a string path in java

Question

String path = "/var/lib/////xen//images///rhel";

the number of slashes can be of any number. How to normalize the path in java like :

/var/lib/xen/images/rhel

Answer 1

Use the built-in String method replaceAll, with a regular expression "/+", replacing one or more slashes with one slash:

path = path.replaceAll("/+", "/");

Answer 2

You could use a File object to output the path specific to the current platform:

String path = "/var/lib/////xen//images///rhel";
path = new File(path).getPath();

Answer 3

Use Guava's CharMatcher:

String simplifiedPath = CharMatcher.is('/').collapseFrom(originalPath, '/');

See: Guava Explained > Strings > CharMatcher