Java Regex: make it find longest match? -

i having regex (for illustratory purposes only):

(?<number>[0-9]+)|(?<date>[0-9]+\-[0-9]+\-[0-9]+) 

applied 2009-11-10 matcher::lookingat yields 2009. can pass flag in api or in regular expression tell engine consider longest matching match?

i know in particular case reorder 2 statements, programmatically assembling regular expression several regular expressions , love have order not play matches , not.

i using java 8.

the (general) way re-order groups. in case, know longest match second group needs put first. because regex parsed left right find match.

alternatively, case, can wrap regex boundary matches marking beginning , end of line:

^(([0-9]+)|([0-9]+\-[0-9]+\-[0-9]+))$ 

this find longest match if input matches whole line.