LimitedConsecutiveCharacter

public class LimitedConsecutiveCharacter {

//	http://java.dzone.com/articles/my-favorite-coding-interview
	
	
	public static void main(String[] args) {

		System.out.println(removeExtraCharacters("aaab", 2));
		System.out.println(removeExtraCharacters("aabb", 1));
		System.out.println(removeExtraCharacters("aabbaa", 1));
	}

	public static String removeExtraCharacters(String input, int maxConsequtiveChars) {

		if (input == null || input.length() <= 1)
			return input;

		StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
		char buffer[] = input.toCharArray();
		char previousChar = buffer[0];
		int seen = 0;

		for (int i = 1; i < buffer.length; i++) {

			if (buffer[i] == previousChar && (++seen > maxConsequtiveChars)) {
				continue;
			}

			previousChar = buffer[i];
			sb.append(buffer[i]);
		}

		return sb.toString();
	}

}