Splitting text form file

Question

Hello,
This is the problem, I have a text file with mobile messages, here's an example of these messages.
25 100
SEND 2228161 Hello Pete
RECEIVE 2228161 Hello Chris, how are you?
SEND 2227765 I hate text speak
RECEIVE 2228876 wot u on bout
SEND 2227975 The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog
SEND 2328161 Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair
SEND 2226543 Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow
SEND 2226543 And everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go
I have to read the text file, for which the code I have succeeded in doing, the first line of the text file are integers, which I have to assign to to variables say sizeOfMessage and limitOfBox. The code I've written so far reconizes the SEND and RECEIVE messages, using if (line.startsWith("SEND")), this I've tested it works. Now here is where I am pulling my hair out, I need to read the line, evaluate the size of the message excluding the SEND and telephone number, if it is greater than the sizeOfMessage value, split the the message up, then store the fragmented message including the SEND and telephone message into an array. Here is the code so far:-
tokens = new StringTokenizer(line, "");
                while (tokens.hasMoreTokens())
                    //get next token
                     System.out.println(tokens.nextToken());
                    // split on the white space with eiher RECEIVE or SEND before it
                    String[] storeTokens = line.split("(SEND|RECEIVE)\\s");
                    if (line.startsWith("SEND"))
                        System.out.println("SEND message");
                        if ((storeTokens[1].length()) > 25)
                            String[] tempTokens = line.split("(?<=SEND)\\s");
                   }         How do I achieve this?
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

Answer 1

Here's a quick example. Hope this helps.
/** testfile.txt **********************************
25 100
SEND 2228161 Hello Pete
RECEIVE 2228161 Hello Chris, how are you?
SEND 2227765 I hate text speak
RECEIVE 2228876 wot u on bout
SEND 2227975 The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog
SEND 2328161 Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair
SEND 2226543 Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow
SEND 2226543 And everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go
SEND 2226543 There was a labyrinth in the forest where the lamb was lost
import java.util.*;
import java.util.regex.*;
import java.io.*;
public class MindGames{
  int sizeOfMessage, limitOfBox;
  ArrayList<String> inputLines;
  ArrayList<ArrayList<String>> messages;
  public MindGames(String infilename){
    String line = null;
    inputLines = new ArrayList<String>();
    messages = new ArrayList<ArrayList<String>>();
    try{
      BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(infilename));
      while ((line = br.readLine()) != null){
        inputLines.add(line);
    catch (Exception e){
      e.printStackTrace();
    String[] temp = (inputLines.remove(0)).split("\\s+"); //remove first line
    sizeOfMessage = Integer.parseInt(temp[0]);
    limitOfBox = Integer.parseInt(temp[0]);
    inputLines = gather(inputLines);
  public void reformatLines(){
    ArrayList<String> aline;
    for (String s : inputLines){
      String[] elements = s.split("\\s+", 3);
      aline = new ArrayList<String>();
      String[] folded = makeFold(elements);
      for (String m : folded){
        aline.add(m);
      messages.add(aline);
  /* gather msgs for same number */
  ArrayList<String> gather(ArrayList<String> lines){
    ArrayList<String> retval = new ArrayList<String>();
    int i = 0;
    String[] current, next;
    String[] dummy = {"", "", ""};
    while (i < lines.size()){
      current = lines.get(i++).split("\\s+", 3);
      if (i < lines.size()){
        next = lines.get(i++).split("\\s+", 3);
      else{
        next = dummy;
      while (next[1].equals(current[1]) && next[0].equals(current[0])){
        current[2] = current[2] + " " + next[2];
        if (i < lines.size()){
          next = lines.get(i++).split("\\s+", 3);
        else{
          next = dummy;
      retval.add(current[0] + " " + current[1] + " " + current[2]);
      if (! next.equals(dummy)){
        --i;
    return retval;
  /* the regex for this version honors word boundary and spaces btw them */
  String[] makeFold(String[] rawSplit){
    ArrayList<String> foldedMsg = new ArrayList<String>();
    String msg = rawSplit[2];
    // short msg | can fold at word boundary | extraordinary long word
    String regex
      = "^.{0," + sizeOfMessage + "}$|.{1," + sizeOfMessage
      + "}(?=\\s|$)|[^\\s]{1," + sizeOfMessage + "}";
    String s;
    Pattern pat = Pattern.compile(regex);
    Matcher mat = pat.matcher(msg);
    while (mat.find()){
      s = mat.group();
      foldedMsg.add(rawSplit[0] + " " + rawSplit[1] + " " + s);
    return foldedMsg.toArray(new String[1]);
  public void testOutput(){
    for (ArrayList<String> as : messages){
      for (String str : as){
        System.out.println(str);
  public static void main(String[] args){
    MindGames mg = new MindGames("testfile.txt");
    mg.reformatLines();
    mg.testOutput();
/*** output for inputting testfile.txt ***************
SEND 2228161 Hello Pete
RECEIVE 2228161 Hello Chris, how are you?
SEND 2227765 I hate text speak
RECEIVE 2228876 wot u on bout
SEND 2227975 The quick brown fox
SEND 2227975  jumped over the lazy dog
SEND 2328161 Simple Simon met a pieman
SEND 2328161  going to the fair
SEND 2226543 Mary had a little lamb,
SEND 2226543  its fleece was white as
SEND 2226543  snow And everywhere that
SEND 2226543  Mary went the lamb was
SEND 2226543  sure to go There was a
SEND 2226543  labyrinth in the forest
SEND 2226543  where the lamb was lost
*********************************************************/