Comparing a String with a template like string

Question

I am trying to write a program in which I have to do comparison between a list of strings with a template (which is essentially a string). I am not sure what is the term used but it is going to be more of log scraping program if that helps.

Input String Examples:

1. Hello World this is me
2. Hello Strange World this is a someone
3. This is a test file
4. Hello World this is a bot

To be compared against

a. This is a ? file

b. Hello World this is ?

The idea is to match input statements (1-4) against template strings (a-b) and if they match then I need to act on them. Like 1 & 4 match sentence b but 2 does not.

Thanks in advance for help/directions.

Answer 1

Change your ? to .* and you've got a regex:

String input = "Hello World this is me";

if (input.matches("Hello World this is .*"))
    // true

etc