How do you write a regular expression that allows you to use the special DOT character?

[a-zA-Z. ]+ allows you to use letters, periods and spaces.

import java.util.regex.*;

public class Test {
  public static void main(String [] args) throws Exception {
    String RE = "[a-zA-Z. ]+";
    String name = args[0];
    Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(RE);

    Matcher m = pattern.matcher(name);
    System.err.println("`" + RE + 
                       (m.matches()?"' matches `":"' does not match `") + 
                       name + "'");
  }
}

Duration:

$ java Test "R. Robert"
`[a-zA-Z., ]+' matches `R. Robert'

$ java Test "R.-Robert"
`[a-zA-Z., ]+' does not match `R.-Robert'