Java Regex :: first word in each line of a String

Question

Let's look at the following String:

String input = "A bla bla bla A blaa\r\n" +
               "B boo foo A B abo \r\n" + 
               "A yow B B yow";

And here is my regex:

String regex = "([AB]) (.*?)(?=$|[AB])";

I get with it each "A" or "B".

But what I look for is to get "A" or "B" only if it's the first word in each line of my String.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You need to 2 things here:

• Enable MULTILINE mode
• Use ^ to match the AB only at the beginning.

This regex would work:

"(?m)^[AB]"

Answer 2

Pattern: ([AB]).*

Match:
1) A & A bla bla bla B blaa
2) B & B boo foo AB ab
3) A & A yow BB yow

Explain what you need. Look for results: http://fiddle.re/c1rwn