Java string cut help...

[gibson00]

Hi all, was hoping to get some help with this.

If I am given a string such as:
REG20140509-0001

I want to cut out the year/month/day, so in this case '20140509'.
I know that the characters in front of the date will always be letters, not numbers, but I don't know how many. Three in the above example, but could be more or less.
I do know that the date will always be followed by a dash and four digits.

Thanks for any help!!!!!!

[Norm]

One idea:
find the "-" and backup x characters over the date and use the substring method.

[gibson00]

One idea:
find the "-" and backup x characters over the date and use the substring method.

Thanks Norm. I've used the substring method before, but not sure how to get it to work right to left?

[Norm]

how to get it to work right to left?

It doesn't directly.
The starting index is computed from the location of the "-" by subtraction.

[danieland]

Hi!
You can first split the string by '-' character, so you will have "REG20140509" and store into a String variable (let's say date).
After that you can apply a regexp over this string. Use "\\w" as a pattern.
Then you will extract a substring from date variable. (ex: date.substring(matcher.end()+1); ) and you will get "20140509".

Hope this helps.

--- Update ---

Sorry, I made a mistake.
Use "\\d" pattern. And after that date.substring(matcher.start()) will return "20140509"