Merge branch 'develop' into features/JAL-845splitPaneMergeDevelop

[jalview.git] / src / jalview / analysis / AlignSeq.java

diff --git a/src/jalview/analysis/AlignSeq.java b/src/jalview/analysis/AlignSeq.java
index 96c9b72..bd4cc22 100755 (executable)
--- a/src/jalview/analysis/AlignSeq.java
+++ b/src/jalview/analysis/AlignSeq.java
@@ -804,19 +804,23 @@ public class AlignSeq
   }
 
   /**
-   * DOCUMENT ME!
+   * Returns the given sequence with all of the given gap characters removed.
    * 
-   * @param gapChar
-   *          DOCUMENT ME!
+   * @param gapChars
+   *          a string of characters to be treated as gaps
    * @param seq
-   *          DOCUMENT ME!
+   *          the input sequence
    * 
-   * @return DOCUMENT ME!
+   * @return
    */
-  public static String extractGaps(String gapChar, String seq)
+  public static String extractGaps(String gapChars, String seq)
   {
-    StringTokenizer str = new StringTokenizer(seq, gapChar);
-    StringBuffer newString = new StringBuffer();
+    if (gapChars == null || seq == null)
+    {
+      return null;
+    }
+    StringTokenizer str = new StringTokenizer(seq, gapChars);
+    StringBuilder newString = new StringBuilder(seq.length());
 
     while (str.hasMoreTokens())
     {