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|  | Classes for matching character sequences against patterns specified by regular | 
|  | expressions. | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p> An instance of the {@link java.util.regex.Pattern} class represents a | 
|  | regular expression that is specified in string form in a syntax similar to | 
|  | that used by Perl. | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p> Instances of the {@link java.util.regex.Matcher} class are used to match | 
|  | character sequences against a given pattern.  Input is provided to matchers via | 
|  | the {@link java.lang.CharSequence} interface in order to support matching | 
|  | against characters from a wide variety of input sources. </p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p> Unless otherwise noted, passing a <tt>null</tt> argument to a method | 
|  | in any class or interface in this package will cause a | 
|  | {@link java.lang.NullPointerException NullPointerException} to be thrown. | 
|  |  | 
|  | <h2>Related Documentation</h2> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p> An excellent tutorial and overview of regular expressions is <a | 
|  | href="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/"><i>Mastering Regular | 
|  | Expressions</i>, Jeffrey E. F. Friedl, O'Reilly and Associates, 1997.</a> </p> | 
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|  |  | 
|  | @since 1.4 | 
|  | @author Mike McCloskey | 
|  | @author Mark Reinhold | 
|  |  | 
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