source: trunk/java-utils/src/main/java/de/ugoe/cs/util/StringTools.java @ 819

package de.ugoe.cs.util;

/**
 * <p>
 * Helper class that provides methods to simplify working with {@link String}s.
 * </p>
 * 
 * @author Steffen Herbold
 * @version 1.0
 */
final public class StringTools {

        /**
         * <p>
         * Private constructor to prevent initializing of the class.
         * </p>
         */
        private StringTools() {

        }

        /**
         * <p>
         * Simplifies use of operation system specific line separators.
         * </p>
         */
        public final static String ENDLINE = System.getProperty("line.separator");

        /**
         * <p>
         * Replaces all occurrences of {@literal &, <, >, ', and "} with their
         * respective XML entities {@literal &amp;, &lt;, &gt;, &apos;, and &quot;}
         * without destroying already existing entities.
         * </p>
         * 
         * @param str
         *            String where the XML entities are to be replaced
         * @return new String, where the XML entities are used instead of the
         *         literals
         */
        public static String xmlEntityReplacement(String str) {
                String result = str;
                if (result != null && !"".equals(result)) {
                        result = result
                                        .replaceAll("&(?!(?:lt|gt|apos|quot|amp);)", "&amp;");
                        result = result.replaceAll("<", "&lt;");
                        result = result.replaceAll(">", "&gt;");
                        result = result.replaceAll("'", "&apos;");
                        result = result.replaceAll("\"", "&quot;");
                }
                return result;
        }
}