Java has always been an excellent language for working with objects. But Java's text manipulation mechanisms have always been limited, compared to languages like AWK and Perl. On the flip side, a regular expressions package in Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) brings hope to the Java text mechanisms. This package provides you everything necessary to use regular expressions—all packaged in a simplified object-oriented framework.

In addition to working examples and best practices, this book features a detailed API reference with examples supporting nearly every method, and a step-by-step tutorial to create your own regular expressions. With time, you'll discover that regular expressions are extremely powerful in your programming arsenal—and you'll enjoy using them! And once you've mastered these tools, you'll wonder how you ever managed without them!