question: public static int extractReference ( String text ) { int lparenthIndex = text . indexOf ( '(' ) ; int spaceIndex = text . indexOf ( ' ' ) ; if ( spaceIndex < 0 ) { spaceIndex = text . length ( ) ; } if ( lparenthIndex < 0 ) { return spaceIndex ; } else { if ( spaceIndex < lparenthIndex ) { return spaceIndex ; } int rparenthIndex = text . indexOf ( ')' , lparenthIndex ) ; if ( rparenthIndex < 0 ) { rparenthIndex = text . length ( ) - 1 ; } return rparenthIndex + 1 ; } }
target:  Extracts a reference to a source element from the beginning of the text.