ChatParser | Topcoder Archive

Problem Statement

We want to write a chat parser that will remove all of the "smilies" from some text to make it more professional.

A "smilie" is defined as a character representing a pair of eyes, one of ':', ';', '8', or 'B', followed by an OPTIONAL nose, one of '-', 'o', '*', or '^', and finally a mouth, one of 'P', ')', '(', '[', or ']'.

For example, ":)", ";-]", "8[", "8*P", and "B^(" are all smilies, but
"X(" is not a smilie (invalid eyes)
":-" is not a smilie (no mouth)
"8v)" is not a smilie (invalid nose)

Given a String, remove all the smilies from it and return the clean text. Only remove smilies in a single pass. If that single pass creates more smilies, do not remove them. For example, "::))" only contains one smilie, and the resultant text would just be ":)". (see example 0)

Definition

Class:: ChatParser
Method:: deSmilie
Parameters:: String
Returns:: String
Method signature:: String deSmilie(String text)
(be sure your method is public)

Notes

zero, '0', and capital oh, 'O', are not valid noses; only '-', 'o' (lowercase oh), '*', and '^' are valid noses.
all leading, trailing, and internal spaces should appear exactly in the return String as they do in the input String.
there will be no internal spaces in a smilie. i.e., ": - )" isn't a smilie.
do not recursively check for smilies, i.e., only do one pass. "::-))" should return ":)".

Constraints

text is between 0 and 50 characters, inclusive.
text will consist only of the characters 'A'-'Z', 'a'-'z', '0'-'9', spaces, and "-^:;[]().,!?*" (not including quotes).

Examples

```
"::)) ::-))"
```
```
Returns: ":) :)"
```
note that smilies are not removed recursively.

"  !! How are you doing today, pogsworth? :) :) :-)"

Returns: "  !! How are you doing today, pogsworth?   "

note that the spaces are preserved

"Hello how are you :) I am doing fine. :-)"

Returns: "Hello how are you  I am doing fine. "

"(-: backwards smilies are not removed."

Returns: "(-: backwards smilies are not removed."

"T:*Ph:*(i:*)s:*[ :*]i:^Ps:^) :^(a:^[ :^]t8Pe8)s8(t"

Returns: "This is a test"

```
""
```
```
Returns: ""
```

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