code: private StringBuilder stripWhitespace(String description) {
          // since we don't have a method that deletes characters (why?!!)
          // create a new StringBuffer to copy the text into
          StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
          int descriptionLength = description.length();
  
          // iterate through the characters...
          int start = 0;
          while (start < descriptionLength) {
              // seek to the first non-whitespace character...
              while (start < descriptionLength
                     && PatternProps.isWhiteSpace(description.charAt(start)))
              {
                  ++start;
              }
  
              //if the first non-whitespace character is semicolon, skip it and continue
              if (start < descriptionLength && description.charAt(start) == ';') {
                  start += 1;
                  continue;
              }
  
              // locate the next semicolon in the text and copy the text from
              // our current position up to that semicolon into the result
              int p = description.indexOf(';', start);
              if (p == -1) {
                  // or if we don't find a semicolon, just copy the rest of
                  // the string into the result
                  result.append(description.substring(start));
                  break;
              }
              else if (p < descriptionLength) {
                  result.append(description.substring(start, p + 1));
                  start = p + 1;
              }
              else {
                  // when we get here, we've seeked off the end of the string, and
                  // we terminate the loop (we continue until *start* is -1 rather
                  // than until *p* is -1, because otherwise we'd miss the last
                  // rule in the description)
                  break;
              }
          }
          return result;
      }
docs: This function is used by init() to strip whitespace between rules (i.e.,
  after semicolons).
  @param description The formatter description
  @return The description with all the whitespace that follows semicolons
  taken out.