Pattern matches(String ,CharSequence) method in Java with Examples

Last Updated : 10 May, 2019

The matches(String, CharSequence) method of the Pattern class in Java is used to answer whether or not the regular expression matches on the input. To do so we compile the given regular expression and attempts to match the given input against it where both regular expression and input passed as a parameter to the method. If a pattern is to be used multiple times, compiling it once and reusing it will be more efficient than invoking this method each time.

Syntax:

public static boolean matches(String regex, CharSequence input)

Parameters: This method accepts two parameters:

regex: This parameter represents the expression to be compiled.
input: The character sequence to be matched.

Return Value: This method returns a boolean value, answering whether or not the regular expression matches on the input.

Below programs illustrate the matches(String, CharSequence) method:

Program 1:

// Java program to demonstrate 
// Pattern.matches(String, CharSequence) method 
  
import java.util.regex.*; 
  
public class GFG { 
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    { 
        // create a REGEX String 
        String REGEX = "(.*)(ee)(.*)?"; 
  
        // create the string 
        // in which you want to search 
        String actualString 
            = "geeksforgeeks"; 
  
        // use matches method to check the match 
        boolean matcher = Pattern.matches(REGEX, actualString); 
  
        // print values if match found 
        if (matcher) { 
            System.out.println("match found for Regex."); 
        } 
        else { 
            System.out.println("No match found for Regex."); 
        } 
    } 
} 

Output:

match found for Regex.

Program 2:

// Java program to demonstrate 
// Pattern.matches(String, CharSequence) method 
  
import java.util.regex.*; 
  
public class GFG { 
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    { 
        // create a REGEX String 
        String REGEX = "(.*)(welcome)(.*)?"; 
  
        // create the string 
        // in which you want to search 
        String actualString 
            = "The indian team wins worldcup"; 
  
        // use matches() method to check the match 
        boolean matcher = Pattern.matches(REGEX, actualString); 
  
        // print values if match found 
        if (matcher) { 
            System.out.println("match found for Regex."); 
        } 
        else { 
            System.out.println("No match found for Regex."); 
        } 
    } 
} 