StringTokenizer countTokens problem

[Vasha Qafiri]

This code seems straight forward. I'm trying to make sure my parens are balanced. The output from the following is:
Num left parens: 1
Num right parens: 2
Why this result when both values should be 1?
thanx in advance, vasha
import java.util.*;
public class Test{
private static void main (String[] args){

try{
String s = "(Q AND Q) OR Q";
int iLeft=0;
int iRight=0;
StringTokenizer stLeft = new StringTokenizer(s,"(");
iLeft = stLeft.countTokens();
StringTokenizer stRight = new StringTokenizer(s,")");
iRight = stRight.countTokens();
dbg("Num left parens: "+iLeft);
dbg("Num right parens: "+iRight);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
dbg("Exception: "+ex);
}
}
private static void dbg(String asMessage)
{
System.out.println(asMessage);
}
}

[Junilu Lacar]

stLeft has the following token: "Q AND Q) OR Q"
stRight has the following tokens: "(Q AND Q" and " OR Q"
You can see this for yourself with the following code:
<pre>
StringTokenizer stLeft = new StringTokenizer(s, "(");
while (stLeft.hasMoreTokens())
{
System.out.println(stLeft.nextToken());
}

StringTokenizer stRight = new StringTokenizer(s, ")");
while (stRight.hasMoreTokens())
{
System.out.println(stRight.nextToken());
}
</pre>

[Jim Yingst]

When you create a StringTokenizer as new StringTokenizer(s,"("), the "(" characters are delimiters, not tokens. The tokens are the parts of the string between the delimiters. Since there is no countDelimiters() method, the StringTokenizer class is of limited use to you here. Better to forget about StringTokenizer and just write a loop that counts parenthesis directly:
<code><pre>
int leftCount = 0;
int rightCount = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < s.size(); i++) {
char c = s.charAt(i);
if (c == '(') {
leftCount++;
}
else if (c == ')') {
rightCount++;
}
}
System.out.println("Left parens: " + leftCount);
System.out.println("Right parens: " + rightCount);
</pre></code>

[Vasha Qafiri]

Thanks kindly, I suppose I misunderstood the usage of the StringTokenizer and its methods!
vasha

[AGivant]

Hi.
You can go this way: there is a constructor for StringTokenizer that accept 3 parameters and third one says include or exclude delimiter from calculation. So you create StringTokenizer first with 3 parameter constructor, call to countTokens() to receive general number of tokens (inlcudes delimiters), than you create StringTokenizer again but with 2 parameters constructor (this way delimiters are not calculated in countTokens() function call.
After that you just make countToken1 - countToken2 and you have number of delimiter in your string.
Hope it helps.
Alex.