Why does single pipe character confuse java split method? [duplicate]

Question

Try the following:

String[] = "abcde|12345|xyz".split("|");

The results will not be as (at least I..) anticipated.

Using any other character seems to be ok.

String[] = "abcde,12345,xyz".split(",");

So what is special with the pipe?

Answer 1

Java String.split() expects a RegExp and the pipe character has special meaning in RegExps other than a comma. Try the following:

String[] = "abcde|12345|xyz".split("\\|");