Java replaceAll function of string does not replace [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Wrong output using replaceall

If I have string:

String test = "replace()thisquotes";

test = test.replaceAll("()", "");

the test result is still: test = "replace()thisquotes"

so () is not replaced.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

You don't need regex, so use:

test.replace("()", "")

Answer 2

As others have pointed out, you probably want to use String.replace in this case as you don't need regular expressions.

---

For reference however, when using String.replaceAll, the first argument (which is interpreted as a regular expression) needs to be quoted, preferably by using Pattern.quote:

String test = "replace()thisquotes";

test = test.replaceAll(Pattern.quote("()"), "");
//                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

System.out.println(test);  // prints "replacethisquotes"