Programming Tips - Java: Best way to parse a name=value pair

Date: 2012apr16 Update: 2025oct3 Language: Java Q. Java: Best way to parse a name=value pair A. Use String.split() as show in this full example:
import java.lang.System; class Demo { static void parsePair(final String line) { final String []pair = line.split("=", 2); if (pair.length != 0) { final String name = pair[0]; final String value = pair.length > 1 ? pair[1] : ""; System.out.println("name is '" + name + "'"); System.out.println("value is '" + value + "'"); } } public static final void main(String []args) { parsePair("language=java"); } }
Output:
name is 'language' value is 'java'
This works for cookies, .ini files, etc Regular expressions are another way. Passing the second paramater of split() as 2 deals with an "=" in the value.