Best way to remove word punctuation and re-add it later using Java?

Question

[Running Java 1.7.0_51 on MacOSX]

Hello there,

I am currently writing a program, and have to write a method that will take a string parameter of a word, remove its punctuation, abbreviate the word itself, then once the word has been abbreviated, re-add the punctuation and return the word.
Note that the punctuation only includes: , ; . ! ?

The string parameter will be a single word, with punctuation only included at the end.

I already know how to do this with repeated if statements / else if, however I'd like to see an example of perhaps a better, more efficient way to do this if possible. I'm sure there's a better way, and that someone better experienced can give me an example. I'd be very grateful. I'm still learning but I'd like to explore efficient options!

Example input:
Thankyou!

Example output:
Ty!

All I need guidance with is the actual removing and re-adding punctuation. Leave the abbreviating part to me. So to just simplify it, assume that the input and output is unchangeable.

Answer 1

Considering

The punctuation mark is always at the end

You can get the punctuation mark from the inputWord as following:

String punctuation = inputWord.substring(inputWord.length() - 1);

and check it using regex if it is one of the punctuation mark you should have

if (punctuation.matches("[\\!\\,\\?\\;\\.]"))
    // your actions items here

this way you can avoid multiple if statements.

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Alternatively

You can maintain a set of all the punctuation marks you need to check against:

Set<String> punctuationSet = new HashSet<String>(                                   
                        Arrays.asList(new String[]{"!", "?", ";", ",", "."}));

and later check if the punctuation in the inputWord is present in the punctuationSet using

if (punctuationSet.contains(punctuation))
    // your actions items here