question: public static int findNext ( String str , char separator , char escapeChar , int start , StringBuilder split ) { int numPreEscapes = 0 ; for ( int i = start ; i < str . length ( ) ; i ++ ) { char curChar = str . charAt ( i ) ; if ( numPreEscapes == 0 && curChar == separator ) { return i ; } else { split . append ( curChar ) ; numPreEscapes = ( curChar == escapeChar ) ? ( ++ numPreEscapes ) % 2 : 0 ; } } return - 1 ; }
target:  Finds the first occurrence of the separator character ignoring the escaped separators starting from the index. Note the substring between the index and the position of the separator is passed.