Java: Read a string, if the first or last characters are same return the string without those characters otherwise return the string unchanged

Last update on May 21 2025 12:49:03 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

65. Remove Same First and Last Char

Write a Java program to read a given string and return the string without the first or last characters if they are the same, otherwise return the string without the characters.

Visual Presentation:

Sample Solution:

Java Code:

import java.util.*;

// Define a class named Main
public class Main {

    // Method to exclude 't' character from the string based on certain conditions
    public String excludeT(String stng) {
        // If the length of the input string is 0, return the input string
        if (stng.length() == 0)
            return stng;

        // If the length of the input string is 1
        if (stng.length() == 1) {
            // If the string contains 't', return an empty string; otherwise, return the string itself
            if (stng.charAt(0) == 't')
                return "";
            else
                return stng;
        }

        // If the first character of the input string is 't', remove it from the string
        if (stng.charAt(0) == 't')
            stng = stng.substring(1, stng.length());

        // If the last character of the input string is 't', remove it from the string
        if (stng.charAt(stng.length() - 1) == 't')
            stng = stng.substring(0, stng.length() - 1);

        return stng; // Return the modified string
    }

    // Main method to execute the program
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Main m = new Main(); // Create an instance of the Main class

        String str1 = "testcricket"; // Input string

        // Display the given string and the new string using excludeT method
        System.out.println("The given strings is: " + str1);
        System.out.println("The new string is: " + m.excludeT(str1));
    }
}

Sample Output:

The given strings is: testcricket
The new string is: estcricke

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

• Write a Java program to remove the first and last characters of a string if they are identical.
• Write a Java program to conditionally trim a string’s boundaries based on whether the first and last characters match.
• Write a Java program to check if the first and last characters of a string are the same, then return the string without them.
• Write a Java program to remove matching boundary characters from a string and output the resulting substring.

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