How to compare each item in a Stack with the next one??

Question

I am trying to compare each string value with the next one in a stack.
I think I am doing something wrong when I store the poped string in a temp?
Object is:
-----to read in a stack and compare each element. We are looking for an "adj" next to a" NP*".
-----if we find a "adj" next to a "NP*" then we need to remove the "adj" and push the "NP*" on a new stack.
-----if we find something other than an "adj" next to a "NP*" then we just need to push that item on the new stack
we continue through the stack until it is empty.
-----once we have checked the entire stack for "adj" next to "NP*" and changed them all, we need to send the new stack back to the method for another test.
-----this time we are looking for a "det" next to a "NP*"
-----if we find
---------remove the "det" and change the "NP*" to "NP"
there are more test after that one but, if I can get here I think I can get through the rest.
In all this is a grammar checking program, checking for correct english.
thanks for the help, my mind feels like mush a new perspective will help,
steven
Here is what I have so far:
public void structureCheck(Stack s, int wordCount, boolean inOrder)throws EmptyStackException{
          Stack orderStack = new Stack();
          int parseCount =0;
          boolean display = false;
          int count = 0;
               if(inOrder == false){     
                    for(int i=0; i<wordCount;i++){                                        
                         String temp = ""+s.pop();
                              if(temp.equals("n")){
                                   temp = "NP*";
                         orderStack.push(temp);
                         parseCount++;          
               structureCheck(orderStack,parseCount,true);     
               if(inOrder == true){
                    parseCount= wordCount;
                    System.out.println("parseCount  "+parseCount);
                    for (Enumeration e = s.elements(); e.hasMoreElements();){
                         for(int i=0; i<parseCount; i++){
                              String temp = ""+s.pop();
                              String temp2= ""+s.pop();
                              String temp3= ""+s.pop();
                              System.out.println("temp  "+temp+"  count  "+count);
                              /*temp = temp;
                              System.out.println("temp2  "+temp+"  count  "+count);
                              temp = temp;
                              System.out.println("temp3  "+temp+"  count  "+count);*/
                              count++;
                              if((temp.equals("adj") & temp2.equals("adj") & temp3.equals("NP*"))){
                                   System.out.println("temp  "+temp+"  temp2  "+temp2+"  temp3  "+temp3);
                                   temp="NP";                                   
                              orderStack.push(temp3);
                              parseCount++;
                              /*else{     
                                   orderStack.push(temp3);
                                   parseCount++;
               //structureCheck(orderStack,parseCount,false);
               System.out.println("parseCount=  "+parseCount+" inOrderStack=  "+orderStack);
     }          

Answer 1

This code is different from yours. For one thing, the first part, where inOrder is false, is not included because you did not post what behavior that is supposed to perform. The code below does what you posted...it puts some Strings into a Stack, then parses the Stack. If adj is followed by NP* then adj is removed. Then the new Stack is parsed to find det followed by NP*, and det is removed while NP* is changed to NP.
import java.util.Stack;
import java.util.Vector;
public class Test {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      Stack stack=new Stack();
      Stack stack2=new Stack();
      String[] s={"no","adj","NP*","adj","not","NP*","adj","NP*","dumb","det","NP*"};
      for(int i=s.length-1;i>-1;i--) stack.push(s);
stack=structureCheck(stack,"adj","NP*","NP*");
for(int i=stack.size()-1;i>-1;i--)
System.out.println(stack.elementAt(i));
System.out.println();
stack=structureCheck(stack,"det","NP*","NP");
for(int i=stack.size()-1;i>-1;i--)
System.out.println(stack.elementAt(i));
public static Stack structureCheck(Stack s,String tofind,String tomatch,String tochangeto) {
Stack orderStack = new Stack();
for(int i=0;i<s.size();i++) {
String str=(String) s.elementAt(i);
if(i<s.size()-1 && str.equals(tomatch) && ((String) s.elementAt(i+1)).equals(tofind)) {
i++;
orderStack.add(tochangeto);
} else
orderStack.add(str);
return orderStack;