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finding the middle index of a substring when there are duplicates in the string

I was working on a Java coding problem and encountered the following issue.
Problem:
Given a string, does "xyz" appear in the middle of the string? To define middle, we'll say that the number of chars to the left and right of the "xyz" must differ by at most one
xyzMiddle("AAxyzBB") → true
xyzMiddle("AxyzBBB") → false
My Code:
public boolean xyzMiddle(String str) {
boolean result=false;
if(str.length()<3)result=false;
if(str.length()==3 && str.equals("xyz"))result=true;
for(int j=0;j<str.length()-3;j++){
if(str.substring(j,j+3).equals("xyz")){
String rightSide=str.substring(j+3,str.length());
int rightLength=rightSide.length();
String leftSide=str.substring(0,j);
int leftLength=leftSide.length();
int diff=Math.abs(rightLength-leftLength);
if(diff>=0 && diff<=1)result=true;
else result=false;
}
}
return result;
}
Output I am getting:
Running for most of the test cases but failing for certain edge cases involving more than once occurence of "xyz" in the string
Example:
xyzMiddle("xyzxyzAxyzBxyzxyz")
My present method is taking the "xyz" starting at the index 0. I understood the problem. I want a solution where the condition is using only string manipulation functions.
NOTE: I need to solve this using string manipulations like substrings. I am not considering using list, stringbuffer/builder etc. Would appreciate answers which can build up on my code.

There is no need to loop at all, because you only want to check if xyz is in the middle.
The string is of the form
prefix + "xyz" + suffix
The content of the prefix and suffix is irrelevant; the only thing that matters is they differ in length by at most 1.
Depending on the length of the string (and assuming it is at least 3):
Prefix and suffix must have the same length if the (string's length - the length of xyz) is even. In this case:
int prefixLen = (str.length()-3)/2;
result = str.substring(prefixLen, prefixLen+3).equals("xyz");
Otherwise, prefix and suffix differ in length by 1. In this case:
int minPrefixLen = (str.length()-3)/2;
int maxPrefixLen = minPrefixLen+1;
result = str.substring(minPrefixLen, minPrefixLen+3).equals("xyz") || str.substring(maxPrefixLen, maxPrefixLen+3).equals("xyz");
In fact, you don't even need the substring here. You can do it with str.regionMatches instead, and avoid creating the substrings, e.g. for the first case:
result = str.regionMatches(prefixLen, "xyz", 0, 3);

Super easy solution:
Use Apache StringUtils to split the string.
Specifically, splitByWholeSeparatorPreserveAllTokens.
Think about the problem.
Specifically, if the token is in the middle of the string then there must be an even number of tokens returned by the split call (see step 1 above).
Zero counts as an even number here.
If the number of tokens is even, add the lengths of the first group (first half of the tokens) and compare it to the lengths of the second group.
Pay attention to details,
an empty token indicates an occurrence of the token itself.
You can count this as zero length, count as the length of the token, or count it as literally any number as long as you always count it as the same number.
if (lengthFirstHalf == lengthSecondHalf) token is in middle.

Managing your code, I left unchanged the cases str.lengt<3 and str.lengt==3.
Taking inspiration from #Andy's answer, I considered the pattern
prefix+'xyz'+suffix
and, while looking for matches I controlled also if they respect the rule IsMiddle, as you defined it. If a match that respect the rule is found, the loop breaks and return a success, else the loop continue.
public boolean xyzMiddle(String str) {
boolean result=false;
if(str.length()<3)
result=false;
else if(str.length()==3 && str.equals("xyz"))
result=true;
else{
int preLen=-1;
int sufLen=-2;
int k=0;
while(k<str.lenght){
if(str.indexOf('xyz',k)!=-1){
count++;
k=str.indexOf('xyz',k);
//check if match is in the middle
preLen=str.substring(0,k).lenght;
sufLen=str.substring(k+3,str.lenght-1).lenght;
if(preLen==sufLen || preLen==sufLen-1 || preLen==sufLen+1){
result=true;
k=str.length; //breaks the while loop
}
else
result=false;
}
else
k++;
}
}
return result;
}

Complex numbers string/array in java?

I want to assign complex numbers to binary values which i am doing using complex class, easily available; but when a i am appending complex numbers to string buffer, returning into a string, one complex number is taking multiple entries. How can i place 1 number to 1 entry and read afterwards? Ending string data like this "2.0+2.0i2.0-2.0i2.0+2.0i2.0-2.0i-2.0+2.0i2.0+2.0i....". Now character at 0 is '2', char at 1 is '.' and so on.. I need char at 0 to be 2.0+2.0i. and afterwards i should be able to separate real and imaginary parts of each entry.
StringBuilder symbs = new StringBuilder();
Complex s1 = new Complex(-2,-2);
Complex s2 = new Complex(+2,-2);
Complex s3 = new Complex(+2,+2);
Complex s4 = new Complex(-2,+2);
/////////////////////Symbols to vector ////////////////////
for(int i=0; i< plo.length()-1; i+=2)
{
if(plo.charAt(i)=='1' && plo.charAt(i+1)=='0')
{
symbs.append(s1);
}
else if(plo.charAt(i)=='0' && plo.charAt(i+1)=='1')
{
symbs.append(s2);
}
else if(plo.charAt(i)=='0' || plo.charAt(i+1)=='0')
{
symbs.append(s3);
}
else if(plo.charAt(i)=='1' && plo.charAt(i+1)=='1')
{
symbs.append(s4);
}
}
printComplex(symbs.toString());

"I need char at 0 to be 2.0+2.0i." thats not possible, as a char is one character.
you can append semicolons after every complex and then split for them

Use Regex pattern matching similar like this [[0-9].0+[0-9].0i]+
Pass the string to the Matcher compiler and check available pattern is found on the given string. Based on that extract the value with programmatic logic to get real and imaginary parts.
Explanation on regex string
Real part
[0-9] --> it check value from 0 to 9 followed by . and followed by 0
Imaginary part
[0-9] --> it check value from 0 to 9 followed by . and followed by 0 and then by i

Strange behavior of Java String split() method

I have a method which takes a string parameter and split the string by # and after splitting it prints the length of the array along with array elements. Below is my code
public void StringSplitTesting(String inputString) {
String tokenArray[] = inputString.split("#");
System.out.println("tokenArray length is " + tokenArray.length
+ " and array elements are " + Arrays.toString(tokenArray));
}
Case I : Now when my input is abc# the output is tokenArray length is 1 and array elements are [abc]
Case II : But when my input is #abc the output is tokenArray length is 2 and array elements are [, abc]
But I was expecting the same output for both the cases. What is the reason behind this implementation? Why split() method is behaving like this? Could someone give me proper explanation on this?

One aspect of the behavior of the one-argument split method can be surprising -- trailing nulls are discarded from the returned array.
Trailing empty strings are therefore not included in the resulting array.
To get a length of 2 for each case, you can pass in a negative second argument to the two-argument split method, which means that the length is unrestricted and no trailing empty strings are discarded.

Just take a look in the documentation:
Trailing empty strings are therefore not included in the resulting
array.
So in case 1, the output would be {"abc", ""} but Java cuts the trailing empty String.
If you don't want the trailing empty String to be discarded, you have to use split("#", -1).

The observed behavior is due to the inherently asymmetric nature of the substring() method in Java:
This is the core of the implementation of split():
while ((next = indexOf(ch, off)) != -1) {
if (!limited || list.size() < limit - 1) {
list.add(substring(off, next));
off = next + 1;
} else { // last one
//assert (list.size() == limit - 1);
list.add(substring(off, value.length));
off = value.length;
break;
}
}
The key to understanding the behavior of the above code is to understand the behavior of the substring() method:
From the Javadocs:
String java.lang.String.substring(int beginIndex, int endIndex)
Returns a new string that is a substring of this string. The substring
begins at the specified beginIndex and extends to the character at index
endIndex - 1. Thus the length of the substring is endIndex-beginIndex.
Examples:
"hamburger".substring(4, 8) returns "urge" (not "urger")
"smiles".substring(1, 5) returns "mile" (not "miles")
Hope this helps.

Out of Bounds Exception on a 2D Ragged Array in Java

Problem solved, I ended up need a seperate counter for the array position. Thanks for the help!
I'm writing a small app that takes a string, processes each string into 7-bits of binary code and then fills in a musical scale based on the string. For instance, if I had the binary 1000100, in the key of C Major that would give me the notes C and G(C 0 0 0 G 0 0).
I'm having an issue with a specific piece of code that takes an input of String[] (in which each element is a single character worth of binary, 7-bits) and processes each individual character in the strings themselves and stores the index number of where 1's occur in the string. For example, the string 1000100 would output 1 and 5.
Here's the method that does that:
public static String[][] convertToScale(String[] e){
String[][] notes = new String[e.length][]; //create array to hold arrays of Strings that represent notes
for(int i = 0; i < e.length; i++){
notes[i] = new String[findOccurancesOf(e[i])]; //create arrays to hold array of strings
for(int x = 0; x < e[i].length(); x++){
if((e[i].charAt(x)) != 48){ //checks to see if the char being evaluated is 0(Ascii code 48)
notes[i][x] = Integer.toString(x + 1); // if the value isn't 0, it fills in the array for that position.the value at x+1 represents the position of the scale the note is at
}
}
}
return notes;
}
Here is the code that is uses to get the occurrences of 1 in e[1]:
public static int findOccurancesOf(String s){
int counter = 0;
for(int i = 0; i < s.length(); i++ ) {
if( s.charAt(i) == 1 ) {
counter++;
}
}
return counter;
}
The issue I'm having is with the convertToScale method. When using "Hello world" as my input(the input gets converted into 7-bit binary before it gets processed by either of these methods) it passes through the 2nd for-each loop just fine the first time around, but after it tries to fill another spot in the array, it throws
java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 3
EDIT:It occurs in the line notes[i][x] = Integer.toString(x + 1); of the convertToScale method. I've run the debugger multiple times through after trying the proposes changes below and I still get the same error at the same line. The findOccurancesOf method returns the right value(When evaluating H(1001000) it returns 2.) So the thing that confuses me is that the out of bounds exception comes up right when it fills the 2nd spot in the array.
Also, feel free to tell me if anything else is crazy or my syntax is bad. Thanks!

In findOccurancesOf():
if( s.charAt(i) == 1 ) { should be if( s.charAt(i) == '1' ) { to check for the character '1'.
Otherwise it's looking for the character with ASCII value 1.
There is an out of bounds exception because if findOccuranceOf() returns the wrong value, then notes[i] is not constructed with the correct length in the following line of convertToScale():
notes[i] = new String[findOccurancesOf(e[i])];
In addition, you probably want to use something like:
notes[i][c++] = Integer.toString(x + 1);
with some counter c initialized to 0, if I understand your intentions correctly.

The reason for AIOOBE lies in this line:
notes[i] = new String[findOccurancesOf(e[i])]; //create arrays to hold array of strings
Where you call findOccurancesOf method to find occurance of 1 in your String say Hello which you dont find and return 0 and then you call notes[i][x] = Integer.toString(x + 1); with x as 0. Now since you never allocated space, you get array index out of bound exception.
I would suggest the folowing:
Validate your string before assigning the index say to be greater than 0 or something.
Initialize you notes[i] as notes[i] = new String[e[i].length];
Checking character with single quotes like a == '1' rather than a == 1

The exception is caused by what almas mentioned, note however, that your logical error is most likely inside findOccurencesOf method, if the idea was to find all the '1' chars inside a string you must change to what I outlined below, note the apostrohes. Otherwise a char is getting converted to a byte ascii code, and unless matched with a code of ascii code one, the method will return 0, causing your exception
if( s.charAt(i) == '1' ) {

Java String.indexOf and empty Strings

I'm curious why the String.indexOf is returning a 0 (instead of -1) when asking for the index of an empty string within a string.
The Javadocs only say this method returns the index in this string of the specified string, -1 if the string isn't found.
To me this behavior seems highly unexpected, I would have expected a -1. Any ideas why this unexpected behavior is going on? I would at the least think this is worth a note in the method's Javadocs...
System.out.println("FOO".indexOf("")); // outputs 0 wtf!!!
System.out.println("FOO".indexOf("bar")); // outputs -1 as expected
System.out.println("FOO".indexOf("F")); // outputs 0 as expected
System.out.println("".indexOf("")); // outputs 0 as expected, I think

The empty string is everywhere, and nowhere. It is within all strings at all times, permeating the essence of their being, yet as you seek it you shall never catch a glimpse.
How many empty strings can you fit at the beginning of a string? Mu
The student said to the teacher,
Teacher, I believe that I have found the nature of the empty string. The empty string is like a particle of dust, and it floats freely through a string as dust floats freely through the room, glistening in a beam of sunlight.
The teacher responded to the student,
Hmm. A fine notion. Now tell me, where is the dust, and where is the sunlight?
The teacher struck the student with a strap and instructed him to continue his meditation.

Well, if it helps, you can think of "FOO" as "" + "FOO".

int number_of_empty_strings_in_string_named_text = text.length() + 1
All characters are separated by an empty String. Additionally empty String is present at the beginning and at the end.

By using the expression "", you are actually referring to a null string. A null string is an ethereal tag placed on something that exists only to show that there is a lack of anything at this location.
So, by saying "".indexOf( "" ), you are really asking the interpreter:
Where does a string value of null exist in my null string?
It returns a zero, since the null is at the beginning of the non-existent null string.
To add anything to the string would now make it a non-null string... null can be thought of as the absence of everything, even nothing.

Using an algebraic approach, "" is the neutral element of string concatenation: x + "" == x and "" + x == x (although + is non commutative here).
Then it must also be:
x.indexOf ( y ) == i and i != -1
<==> x.substring ( 0, i ) + y + x.substring ( i + y.length () ) == x
when y = "", this holds if i == 0 and x.substring ( 0, 0 ) == "".
I didn't design Java, but I guess mathematicians participated in it...

if we look inside of String implementation for a method "foo".indexOf(""), we arrive at this method:
public int indexOf(String str) {
byte coder = coder();
if (coder == str.coder()) {
return isLatin1() ? StringLatin1.indexOf(value, str.value)
: StringUTF16.indexOf(value, str.value);
}
if (coder == LATIN1) { // str.coder == UTF16
return -1;
}
return StringUTF16.indexOfLatin1(value, str.value);
}
If we look inside of any of the called indexOf(value, str.value) methods we find a condition that says:
if the second parameter (string we are searching for) length is 0 return 0:
public static int indexOf(byte[] value, byte[] str) {
if (str.length == 0) {
return 0;
}
...
This is just defensive coding for an edge case, and it is necessary because in the next method that is called to do actual searching by comparing bytes of the string (string is a byte array) it would otherwise have resulted in an ArrayIndexOutOfBounds exception:
public static int indexOf(byte[] value, int valueCount, byte[] str, int strCount, int fromIndex) {
byte first = str[0];
...

This question is actually two questions:
Why should a string contain the empty string?
Why should the empty string be found specifically at index zero?
Answering #1:
A string contains the empty string in order to be in accordance with Set Theory, according to which:
The empty set is a subset of every set including itself.
This also means that even the empty string contains the empty string, and the following statement proves it:
assert "".indexOf( "" ) == 0;
I am not sure why mathematicians have decided that it should be so, but I am pretty sure they have their reasons, and it appears that these reasons can be explained in layman's terms, as various youtube videos seem to do, (for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nBKadtFViM) although I have not actually viewed any of those videos, because #AintNoBodyGotNoTimeFoDat.
Answering #2:
The empty string can be found specifically at index zero of any string, because why not? In other words, if not at index zero, then at which index? Index zero is as good as any other index, and index zero is guaranteed to be a valid index for all strings except for the trifling exception of the empty string.