Regular expressions are powerful but tricky, and even those long used to using them can make mistakes. The following should not be used as regular expressions: * . - matches any single character. Used in replaceAll, it matches _everything_ * | - normally used as an option delimiter. Used stand-alone, it matches the space between characters * File.separator - matches the platform-specific file path delimiter. On Windows, this will be taken as an escape character == Noncompliant Code Example ---- String str = "/File|Name.txt"; String clean = str.replaceAll(".",""); // Noncompliant; probably meant to remove only dot chars, but returns an empty string String clean2 = str.replaceAll("|","_"); // Noncompliant; yields _/_F_i_l_e_|_N_a_m_e_._t_x_t_ String clean3 = str.replaceAll(File.separator,""); // Noncompliant; exception on Windows String clean4 = str.replaceFirst(".",""); // Noncompliant; String clean5 = str.replaceFirst("|","_"); // Noncompliant; String clean6 = str.replaceFirst(File.separator,""); // Noncompliant; ----