public static String stripLeadingPeriod(String s){
  if (null != s && s.startsWith("."))   return s.substring(Math.min(1,s.length()),s.length());
  return s;
}

public static String stripLeadingPeriod ( String s ) { if ( null != s && s . startsWith ( "." ) ) return s . substring ( Math . min ( 1 , s . length ( ) ) , s . length ( ) ) ; return s ; }
strips leading period from a string ( example : input - > " . ext " , output - > " ext " )
