code: private int getSectionLevel(SpanManager sm, Span sectionNameSpan)
  	{
  		int begin = sectionNameSpan.getStart();
  		int end = sectionNameSpan.getEnd();
  		int level = 0;
  
  		try
  		{
  			while ((sm.charAt(begin + level) == '=')
  					&& (sm.charAt(end - 1 - level) == '='))
  			{
  				level++;
  			}
  		}
  		catch (StringIndexOutOfBoundsException e)
  		{
  			// there is no need to do anything!
  			logger.debug("EXCEPTION IS OK: {}", e.getLocalizedMessage());
  		}
  
  		if (begin + level == end)
  		{
  			level = (level - 1) / 2;
  		}
  
  		return level;
  	}
docs: Returns the number of Equality Chars which are used to specify the level
  of the Section.