Java Error: illegal character: '\u2013'

Question

I am creating a probabilistic outcome simulator program. This program reads a certain .csv file and predicts the outcome of each game. I am running into 6 of the same errors which is: Error: illegal character: '\–'

Here's my code:

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.scene.layout.*;
import javafx.scene.control.*;
import javafx.stage.FileChooser;
import javafx.geometry.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;

public class POS extends Application
{
   private Button runBtn = new Button("Run");
   @Override
   public void start(Stage stage)
   {
      GridPane pane = new GridPane();

      VBox vBox = new VBox(20);
      vBox.setPadding(new Insets(15));
      Button selectBtn = new Button("Select File");
      selectBtn.setStyle("-fx-font: 22 arial; -fx-base: #b6e7c9;");
      vBox.getChildren().add(selectBtn);

      selectBtn.setOnAction(e->
      {
         FileChooser fileChooser = new FileChooser();
         fileChooser.setTitle("Open Resource File");
         FileChooser.ExtensionFilter extFilter = 
                        new FileChooser.ExtensionFilter("TEXT files (*.csv)", "*.CSV", ".xlsv", ".XLSV");
                fileChooser.getExtensionFilters().add(extFilter);
         File file = fileChooser.showOpenDialog(stage);

            run(file);


      });

      RadioButton weekBtn = new RadioButton("Current Week");  
      RadioButton seasonBtn = new RadioButton("Entire Season");

      runBtn.setStyle("-fx-font: 22 arial; -fx-base: #b6e7c9;");



      seasonBtn.setDisable(true);
      vBox.getChildren().add(weekBtn);
      vBox.getChildren().add(seasonBtn);
      vBox.getChildren().add(runBtn);

      pane.add(vBox, 0, 0);
      Scene scene = new Scene(pane, 500, 200);
      stage.setScene(scene);
      stage.setTitle("POS");
      stage.show();
   }
   public void run(File file)
   {
      runBtn.setOnAction(e->
      {
         try
         {
            Scanner input = new Scanner(file);
            input.nextLine(); 
            sortFile(file, input);

            input.close();
         }

         catch (InputMismatchException ex)
         {
            System.out.println("Error you seem to have typed the wrong type of file");
         }
         catch(IOException ex)
         {
            System.out.println("Error, file could not be found");
         }


      });
   }
   public ArrayList<String> sortFile(File file, Scanner input)
   {
      String strList = Arrays.toString(input.nextLine().split("\t"));
      String[] arrList = strList.split(",");
      int homeRank = Integer.parseInt(arrList[1]);
      System.out.println(homeRank);
      int roadRank = Integer.parseInt(arrList[6]);
      Random r = new Random();
      int lowestTeamRank = Math.abs(homeRank - roadRank);

      if (homeRank < roadRank)
      {
         double numForHomeTeam = r.nextInt(lowestTeamRank) - r.nextInt(2) + (getLastGameOutcome(arrList[4])* r.nextInt(3)) – getWinPct(arrList[2], arrList[3]);

         double numForRoadTeam = r.nextInt(roadRank) + r.nextInt(2) + getLastGameOutcome(arrList[9])* r.nextInt(3) – getWinPct(arrList[7], arrList[8]);
      }

      else if (homeRank > roadRank)
      {
         double numForHomeTeam = r.nextInt(homeRank) - r.nextInt(2) + getLastGameOutcome(arrList[4])* r.nextInt(3) – getWinPct(arrList[2], arrList[3]);

         double numForRoadTeam = r.nextInt(lowestTeamRank) - r.nextInt(2) + getLastGameOutcome(arrList[9])* r.nextInt(3) – getWinPct(arrList[7], arrList[8]);
      }

      else
      {
         double numForHomeTeam = r.nextInt(homeRank) - r.nextInt(2) + getLastGameOutcome(arrList[4])* r.nextInt(3) – getWinPct(arrList[2], arrList[3]);

         double numForRoadTeam = r.nextInt(lowestTeamRank) - r.nextInt(2) + getLastGameOutcome(arrList[9])* r.nextInt(3) – getWinPct(arrList[7], arrList[8]);

      }       
      return null;
   }

   public int getLastGameOutcome(String lastGame)
   {
      if (lastGame.charAt(0) == 'W')
      {
         return (int)(Math.random() * 3);
      }

      else
      {
         return (int)(Math.random() * -3);
      }  
   }

   public double getWinPct(String wins, String losses)
   {
       double wins = Double.parseDouble(wins);
       double losses = Double.parseDouble(losses);
       return wins / (wins + losses);
   }  

}

The error occurs in the sortFile method where the if/else if/ else statements are (The formulas for the numForHomeTeam and numForRoadTeam). The error is at the end of each formula where the getWinPct() is subtracted from everything else. What is causing this error and how do I fix it?

Answer 1

The character \– is an en-dash, not the regular dash (ascii 45). You may need to filter for non-standard characters when you read in the file. I've had to filter for a number of irregular characters when reading .doc or other types of files

Answer 2

I have found out why I was encountering my error. It turned out to be because I was using a negative symbol that was copied and pasted from a Word Document (-) instead of manually writing a subtraction symbol (-) in the IDE.

Answer 3

Most likely you have a value in your CSV which contains this character. I suggest you fix the file so these columns only contains the numbers you expect.

Alternatively you could ignore any characters which are not part of a number but this assumes you know it's safe to do this for a corrupt file.