The **`matches()`** method in Java checks if a string matches a regular expression.

#    
#  Syntax

The `matches()` method can be declared as shown below:

---
```java
public boolean matches(String exp)
```
---

#     
#  Parameters

`exp`: The regular expression to match the string with.

##    
## Return value

The `matches()` method returns `true` if the string matches the regular expression. Otherwise, it returns `false`.

##   
## Code

Consider the code below, which demonstrates the use of the `matches()` method.

import java.io.*;
public class Main {

   public static void main(String args[]) {
      String str = new String("This is matches() example");

      System.out.println("str starts with \"This\" :" + str.matches("This(.*)"));

      System.out.println("str contains with \"matches()\" :" + str.matches("(.*)matches()(.*)"));

      System.out.println("str contains with \"world\" :" + str.matches("(.*)world"));

   }
}

#     
## Explanation

A string `str` is declared in *line 5*. The `matches()` method is used in *lines 7, 9, and 11* to check whether a string matches a regular expression.

What is the string matches() method in Java?

The matches() method in Java checks if a string matches a given regular expression, returning true or false.