regex - Java regular expression nongreedy issue -

i match smallest sub string starts d , ends , contains o.

example : "djswxaeqobdnoa" => "dnoa"

with code :

pattern pattern = pattern.compile("d.*?o.*?a"); matcher matcher = pattern.matcher("fondjswxaeqobdnoajezbpfrehanxi"); while (matcher.find()) {   system.out.println(matcher.group()); } 

the entire input string "djswxaeqobdnoa" printed instead of "dnoa". why ? how can match smallest ?

here solution :

string shortest = null; pattern pattern = pattern.compile("(?=(d.*?o.*?a))"); matcher matcher = pattern.matcher("ondjswxaeqobdnoajezbpfrehanxi"); while (matcher.find()) {     (int = 1; <= matcher.groupcount(); i++) {         if (shortest == null || matcher.group(i).length() < shortest.length()) {             shortest = matcher.group(i);         }     } } 

djswxaeqobdnoa d....*..o..*.a 

that's 1 match of regular expression consuming full string.