title: Tokenizing Error: java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException, dangling metacharacter '*'
body: <p>I am using <code>split()</code> to tokenize a String separated with <code>*</code> following this format:</p>
  
  <pre><code>name*lastName*ID*school*age
  %
  name*lastName*ID*school*age
  %
  name*lastName*ID*school*age
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'm reading this from a file named "entrada.al" using this code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>static void leer() {
  
      try {
          String ruta="entrada.al";
          File myFile = new File (ruta);
          FileReader fileReader = new FileReader(myFile);
  
          BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(fileReader);
  
          String line = null;
  
          while ((line=reader.readLine())!=null){
              if (!(line.equals("%"))){
                  String [] separado = line.split("*"); //SPLIT CALL
                  names.add(separado[0]);
                  lastNames.add(separado[1]);
                  ids.add(separado[2]);
                  ages.add(separado[3]);
              }
          }
  
          reader.close();
      }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And I'm getting this exception:  </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Exception in thread "main" java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException: Dangling meta character '*' near index 0
    *</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>My guess is that the lack of a <code>*</code> after age on the original text file is causing this. How do I get around it?</p>