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copied!<p>You're using a regex Pattern object to store and retrieve a String. This makes no sense. A Pattern is not used for storing Strings. A Pattern is used for <em>searching</em> other strings. It's a regular expression engine. Let me give you an example of the use of a Pattern.</p> <p>We really have 2 objects when using Regular Expressions in Java. Pattern, and Matcher.</p> <p>Pattern = A Regular Expression.<br> Matcher = All of the Matches found when we apply the Pattern to a String.</p> <p>Let me give you an example of Pattern and Matcher, we'll search for four digits, separated by a colon, like as in time, ie 12:42</p> <pre><code>long timeL; Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(".*([1234567890]{2}:[1234567890]{2}).*"); Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher("Match me! 12:42 Match me!"); if (matcher.matches()) { String timeStr = matcher.group(1); System.out.println("Just the time: "+timeStr); System.out.println("The entire String: "+matcher.group(0)); String[] timeParts = timeStr.split("[:]"); int hours = Integer.parseInt(timeParts[0]); int minutes = Integer.parseInt(timeParts[1]); timeL = (hours*60*60*1000) + (minutes*60*1000); System.out.println(timeL); } </code></pre> <p>After we've applied the Pattern to the String, and gotten a Matcher, we ask if the Matcher actually has a Match or not. You'll notice that we then request group 1, which is the match in the parantheses in: .<em>([1234567890]{2}:[1234567890]{2}).</em> group 0 would be the entire match, and would result in returning the String given.</p> <p>So, I hope you understand why it's extremely weird to be using a Pattern to store a String.</p>

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