st = new StringTokenizer(sentence); while (st.hasMoreTokens()) { word = st.nextToken(); letter = word.charAt(0); if(letter == 'a' ||letter == 'e' ||letter == 'i' || letter == 'o' ||letter == 'u'||letter == 'A' || letter == 'E' ||letter == 'I' ||letter == 'O' || letter == 'U'){ //System.out.print(st.nextToken() + "-way "); plsentence = sentence + "-way "; } }