> + boolean hashIsValid; > + int hash; > ... > + if (!hashIsValid) { > ... > + hashIsValid = true; To safe one word in each String, I would suggest: if (hash == 0 && count > 0) ... Very unlikely that you will need to calculate the hash more than once. --Per Bothner Cygnus Solutions bothner at cygnus.com http://www.cygnus.com/~bothner