Stack Overflow in java regex

Question

I am new in java. I am getting java Stack overflow Exception in regex strHindiText. What should I do for that?

try {
     // This regex convert the pattern "{\fldrslt {\fcs1 \ab\af24 \fcs0 ऩ}{"
     // into "{\fldrslt {\fcs1 \ab\af24 \fcs0 ऩ}}}{"
     // strHindiText = strHindiText.replaceAll("\\{(\\\\fldrslt[ ])\\{((\\\\\\S+[ ])+)((\\s*&#\\d+;\\s*(-|,|/|\\(|\\)|\"|;|\\.|'|<|>|:|\\?)*)+)\\}\\{","{$1{$2$4}}}{");

     // This regex convert the pattern "{\fcs0 \af0 &#2345;{ or {\fcs0 \af0 *\tab &#2345;{" 
     // into "{\fcs0 \af0 &#2345; }{"
     strHindiText = strHindiText.replaceAll("\\{\\s*((\\\\\\S+[ ](\\*)?)+\\s*)(-|,|/|\\(|\\)|\"|;|\\.|'|<|>|:|\\?)*[ ]*(((&#\\d+;)[ ]*(-|,|/|\\(|\\)|\"|;|\\.|'|<|>|:|\\?)*[ ]*)+)\\{", "{$1 $4$5 }{");

     // This regex convert the pattern "{&#2345; \fcs0 \af0 {" 
     // into "{&#2345; \fcs0 \af0 }{"
     strHindiText = strHindiText.replaceAll("\\{\\s*(((&#\\d+;)[ ]*(-|,|/|\\(|\\)|\"|;|\\.|'|<|>|:|\\?)*[ ]*)+)[ ]*((\\\\\\S+[ ])+)\\{", "{$1 $5 }{");

     } catch(StackOverflowError er) {
            System.out.println("Third try Block StackOverflowError in regex pattern to reform the rtf tags................");
            er.printStackTrace();
        //  throw er;
     }

Whenever these strHindiText contain large data it gives an java stackoverflow exception:

java.lang.StackOverflowError
2013-08-08 15:35:07,743 ERROR [STDERR] (http-127.0.0.1-80-9)    at java.util.regex.Pattern$Curly.match0(Pattern.java:3754)
2013-08-08 15:35:07,743 ERROR [STDERR] (http-127.0.0.1-80-9)    at java.util.regex.Pattern$Curly.match(Pattern.java:3744)
2013-08-08 15:35:07,744 ERROR [STDERR] (http-127.0.0.1-80-9)    at java.util.regex.Pattern$GroupTail.match(Pattern.java:4227)
2013-08-08 15:35:07,744 ERROR [STDERR] (http-127.0.0.1-80-9)    at java.util.regex.Pattern$BmpCharProperty.match(Pattern.java:3366)
2013-08-08 15:35:07,745 ERROR [STDERR] (http-127.0.0.1-80-9)    at java.util.regex.Pattern$Curly.match0(Pattern.java:3782)
2013-08-08 15:35:07,745 ERROR [STDERR] (http-127.0.0.1-80-9)    at java.util.regex.Pattern$Curly.match(Pattern.java:3744)

My strHindiText data is:

 `{\rtlch\fcs1 \af1\afs18 \ltrch\fcs0 \f1\fs18\cf21\insrsid13505584 भोपाल  । \par }\pard\plain \ltrpar\s16\ql \li0\ri0\sb100\sa100\sbauto1\saauto1\sl240\slmult0\widctlpar\wrapdefault\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid13505584 \cbpat20 \rtlch\fcs1 \af0\afs24\alang1025 \ltrch\fcs0 \fs24\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\rtlch\fcs1 \ab\af1\afs18 \ltrch\fcs0 \cs21\b\f1\fs18\cf21\insrsid13505584 अन्वेषण करें  :}{\rtlch\fcs1 \af1\afs18 \ltrch\fcs0 \f1\fs18\cf21\insrsid13505584  \par भोपाल , मध्य प्रदेश की राजधानी प्राकृतिक सुं&#2342`

Answer 1

Option 1 - Treat the symptoms

Look for recursive calls in your regex.

If you are not sure where your problem lies: try a regex tester like this .

Option 2 - Treat the cause (much better)

Don't use a regex if there are better tools for your task.

In your case you could: Search for a RTF parsing library or write your own parser.
eg like the one here that jahroy pointed out in the comments.

Answer 2

This is not a full answer but just for your information.

In your regex:

(-|,|/|\\\\(|\\\\)|\\"|;|\\\\.|'|<|>|:|\\\\?)* can be written as [-,/()\\";.'<>:?]*

Since this pattern occurs twice (in your first regex), this immediately shortens your regex by 40 characters and makes those sections much more readable.

Answer 3

Try this to catch the error

public class Example {
    public static void endless() {
        endless();
    }

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        try {
            endless();
        } catch(StackOverflowError t) {
            // more general: catch(Error t)
            // anything: catch(Throwable t)
            System.out.println("Caught "+t);
            t.printStackTrace();
        }
        System.out.println("After the error...");
    }
}

More importantly try increasing the size of the stack add this to your regex

+'xss='xss

adding the "+" symbol changes the operator to prevent back tracking since this doesnt seem to be necessary in your case.