compile-time error: illegal Character: \8279

Question

When I try to compile my servlet I get folowing exception:

illegal character: \8279

And it's pointing to &

msg.setContent("<a href=\"" + server + 
               ":8080/myApp/ResetPasswordPage.jsp?randNum=" + randNum + ‌​
               "&practiceName=" + practiceName+"\" Click Here </a>", 
"text/html" );

I can't find a whole lot on the net about it...

Answer 1

I tried to copy this String to a java file in Eclipse. When I tried to save it I got :

There are 2 problematic invisible characters just after randNum + . Remove them.

Answer 2

This is a dump of a copy-and-paste of your code:

00000010  3c 61 20 68 72 65 66 3d  5c 22 22 20 2b 20 73 65  |<a href=\"" + se|
00000020  72 76 65 72 20 2b 20 0a  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  |rver + .        |
00000030  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 22  3a 38 30 38 30 2f 6d 79  |       ":8080/my|
00000040  41 70 70 2f 52 65 73 65  74 50 61 73 73 77 6f 72  |App/ResetPasswor|
00000050  64 50 61 67 65 2e 6a 73  70 3f 72 61 6e 64 4e 75  |dPage.jsp?randNu|
00000060  6d 3d 22 20 2b 20 72 61  6e 64 4e 75 6d 20 2b 20  |m=" + randNum + |
00000070  e2 80 8c e2 80 8b 0a 20  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  |.......         |
00000080  20 20 20 20 20 20 22 26  70 72 61 63 74 69 63 65  |      "&practice|
00000090  4e 61 6d 65 3d 22 20 2b  20 70 72 61 63 74 69 63  |Name=" + practic|
000000a0  65 4e 61 6d 65 2b 22 5c  22 20 43 6c 69 63 6b 20  |eName+"\" Click |

Note the e2 80 8c and e2 80 8b between randNum + and the next line. You need to remove those.