KITFORMA · EDITORIAL ANSWER
Why does a literal dollar sign in Java regex replacement cause a group-reference error?
KitForma editorial guide. A replacement string has its own syntax; escaping the search pattern does not escape the replacement. Treat the two inputs independently.
Step-by-step answer
A replacement string has its own syntax; escaping the search pattern does not escape the replacement. Treat the two inputs independently.
For a literal user-provided replacement, pass
Matcher.quoteReplacement(replacement) to the matcher replacement operation. If both search and replacement are literal, consider String.replace instead of regex. Preserve regex group syntax only when your own replacement template deliberately uses it.
Verify a dollar sign, a backslash and text resembling a group reference. Check exact output rather than only the absence of exceptions. Quoting the replacement does not make an untrusted regular expression safe from expensive matching; bound input size and avoid accepting arbitrary regex where a literal search will do.Sources and verification
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