Findind out the number of lines within a string - using buffered reader

Question

Hi All,
Want to know the number of lines within a string..Sample code is there for reference..could u help me out how to have the number of lines in a string without java comments (i.e string within /**------*/ and // should be eliminated)
public class ReadLines {
     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{
          ReadLines rl = new ReadLines();
          rl.readLines();
     void readLines() throws Exception{
          String str = "/** This is a test message\n"+
               "* for testing\n"+
               "*/\n"+
               "import java.io.*\n"+
               "// this is again comment\n"+
               "public class ReadLines {\n"+
          BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new StringReader(str));
          String line = "";
          int count = 0;
          while ((line = reader.readLine())!= null )
               //line = reader.readLine();
               count++;
          System.out.println(count);
}Thanks
MK

Answer 1

Hi
What you need to do is parse the file in such a way that you read /*, */ and // as tokens. By that I mean rather than read a line at a time (although I'm sure you could), read it character by character. So every time you reach a new line character then increment the counter. But there are two casaes when you don increment the counter they are:
If you encounter a / followed by * then keep reading but if you encounter a newline character then DONT increment the counter ONLY continue counting when you read a * followed by a / (as this is the end of the comment)
If you encounter / followed by another / then do not count that particular line and go to the next line and continue counting from there.
Where I've written 'continue counting' this is subject to the lines that follow not conforming to the above two cases.
I hope this helps.