/* Return a version of the given string, where for every star (*) in the * string the star and the chars immediately to its left and right are gone. * So "ab*cd" yields "ad" and "ab**cd" also yields "ad". */ public String starOut(String str) { if(str.length() < 1) return ""; if(str.length() == 1) { if(str.charAt(0) == '*') return ""; else return str; } char[] arr = new char[str.length()]; int count = 0; if(str.charAt(0) != '*' && str.charAt(1) != '*') { arr[count] = str.charAt(0); count++; } for(int i = 1; i < str.length() - 1; i++) { if(str.charAt(i-1)!='*' && str.charAt(i) != '*' && str.charAt(i+1) != '*') { arr[count] = str.charAt(i); count++; } } if(str.charAt(str.length()-1) != '*' && str.charAt(str.length()-2) != '*') { arr[count] = str.charAt(str.length() - 1); count++; } return new String(arr, 0, count); }