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How to remove HTML tags from a string in Kotlin

How to remove HTML tags from a string in Kotlin.

Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to remove HTML tags from a string in Kotlin:

Step 1: Import the necessary libraries​

First, you need to import the required libraries to work with regular expressions in Kotlin. Add the following code at the top of your Kotlin file:

import java.util.regex.Pattern

Step 2: Define the function to remove HTML tags​

Next, define a function that takes a string as input and removes all HTML tags from it. You can use regular expressions to accomplish this. Add the following code to your Kotlin file:

fun removeHtmlTags(input: String): String {
    val pattern = Pattern.compile("<.*?>")
    return pattern.matcher(input).replaceAll("")
}

In the above code, we create a pattern using the regular expression <.*?>, which matches any HTML tag. We then use the matcher method to create a matcher object for the input string and replace all occurrences of HTML tags with an empty string using the replaceAll method.

Step 3: Test the function​

To test the removeHtmlTags function, add the following code to your Kotlin file:

fun main() {
    val htmlString = "<p>This is <b>HTML</b> content.</p>"
    val cleanString = removeHtmlTags(htmlString)
    println(cleanString)
}

In the above code, we define a sample HTML string and pass it to the removeHtmlTags function. The resulting clean string is then printed to the console.

Step 4: Run the program​

Save your Kotlin file and run the program. You should see the output as follows:

This is HTML content.

The HTML tags have been successfully removed from the input string.

Alternate approach: If you prefer a more concise approach, you can use the Jsoup library in Kotlin to remove HTML tags. To do this, follow these steps:

Step 1: Import the necessary libraries​

Add the following code to the top of your Kotlin file to import the Jsoup library:

import org.jsoup.Jsoup

Step 2: Remove HTML tags using Jsoup​

Replace the removeHtmlTags function from Step 2 with the following code:

fun removeHtmlTags(input: String): String {
    return Jsoup.parse(input).text()
}

In the above code, we use the Jsoup.parse method to parse the input string as HTML and then use the text method to extract only the visible text, removing any HTML tags.

Step 3: Test the function​

Use the same code from Step 3 to test the removeHtmlTags function.

Step 4: Run the program​

Save your Kotlin file and run the program. The output should be the same as before, with the HTML tags removed.

That's it! You now have two different methods to remove HTML tags from a string in Kotlin. Choose the one that suits your needs best.