question: @ NonNull protected static String sortableTitle ( @ Nullable String title ) { if ( title == null ) { return "" ; } title = title . toLowerCase ( ) ; if ( title . startsWith ( "the " ) ) { return title . substring ( 4 ) ; } else if ( title . startsWith ( "a " ) ) { return title . substring ( 2 ) ; } else { return title ; } }
target:  Creates a sortable String from a title, so that leading "the"s and "a"s can be removed. This method will also strip the title's original case.