Find a number from a string

[florentp]

Hey guys I need ur expertise.. I'm new to Java and been assigned a homework to solve for two equations and get the value of x and y:

2x+3y=10
7x-8y=-2

something like that. The user would input the equations in a TextField.
So when I convert the getText() from the textfield to a string, how do I extract the numbers (say 2 from 2x or 3 from 3y) to use it to solve the equation? I tried using charAt but then the problem is when the user inputs x+3y=5then it wouldnt work anymore, or becomes more complicated. Im thinking that indexOf might help, but I dont really understand how it works, so please, any assistance would really help.

[angryboy]

use regex to split it into tokens.
OR (easier) use StringTokenizer class or StreamTokenizer.

[florentp]

String example = "32x+35y=10";
int dot = example.indexOf("x");
String lol = example.substring(0,dot);
System.out.println(lol);
int dota = example.lastIndexOf("y");
int doto = example.indexOf("+");
String lola = example.substring(doto+1,dota);
System.out.println(lola);

alright so i was able to printout 32 and 35 but now the problem is i want it to be either the indexOf("-") or the indexOf("+"); so that it doesnt matter if the operand is + or -, the coefficient of y will start at the end of the indexOf("operand") and before the indexOf("y"). I hope you guys got what i was trying to say :P