Does string contain any of a list of values?

[scottmacpherson]

Hi all.

I'm struggling this one. I want to find out if a field equals any of a list of values. Hard to explain, but I basically want to do an SQL IN type query, but in a report expression.

I've tried using:

Code:

$F{Field}.matches("(bananas|apples|oranges)"«»)

with no sucess. In the above example, I want TRUE to be returned if the Field contained either 'bananas', 'apples' or 'oranges', but not anything else.

I also fiddled with the syntax of the above, but even something like:

Code:

[code]$F{Field}.matches("^(bananas|apples|oranges)$"«»)

doesn't work.

Any ideas on how to achieve this, or pointers as to where I'm going wrong with .matches?

Thanks.

[vinays84]

if $F{Field} is of type String, you should look at the java.lang.String API. http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/lang/String.html

 

It as ample methods available to handle exactly what you are suggesting.

[scottmacpherson]

Cracked it: for some reason doing a .trim on the field solves everything. I have no idea why blank characters are being added to the field, and whether this is my database or iReports doing this, but problem solved.