I believe this would do what you want:
import java.util.*;
public class Test {
public static List<String> ngrams(int n, String str) {
List<String> ngrams = new ArrayList<String>();
String[] words = str.split(" ");
for (int i = 0; i < words.length - n + 1; i++)
ngrams.add(concat(words, i, i+n));
return ngrams;
}
public static String concat(String[] words, int start, int end) {
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
for (int i = start; i < end; i++)
sb.append((i > start ? " " : "") + words[i]);
return sb.toString();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
for (int n = 1; n <= 3; n++) {
for (String ngram : ngrams(n, "This is my car."))
System.out.println(ngram);
System.out.println();
}
}
}
Output:
This
is
my
car.
This is
is my
my car.
This is my
is my car.
An "on-demand" solution implemented as an Iterator:
class NgramIterator implements Iterator<String> {
String[] words;
int pos = 0, n;
public NgramIterator(int n, String str) {
this.n = n;
words = str.split(" ");
}
public boolean hasNext() {
return pos < words.length - n + 1;
}
public String next() {
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
for (int i = pos; i < pos + n; i++)
sb.append((i > pos ? " " : "") + words[i]);
pos++;
return sb.toString();
}
public void remove() {
throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
}
}
ngrams("This is my car", -3)
(sorry, couldn't resist) – Betimes