How to convert comma-separated String to List?

java string collections split
Jame picture Jame · Sep 20, 2011 · Viewed 967.2k times · Source

Is there any built-in method in Java which allows us to convert comma separated String to some container (e.g array, List or Vector)? Or do I need to write custom code for that?

String commaSeparated = "item1 , item2 , item3";
List<String> items = //method that converts above string into list??

Answer

AlexR picture AlexR · Sep 20, 2011

Convert comma separated String to List

List<String> items = Arrays.asList(str.split("\\s*,\\s*"));

The above code splits the string on a delimiter defined as: zero or more whitespace, a literal comma, zero or more whitespace which will place the words into the list and collapse any whitespace between the words and commas.

Please note that this returns simply a wrapper on an array: you CANNOT for example .remove() from the resulting List. For an actual ArrayList you must further use new ArrayList<String>.

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