starOut Solution CodingBat

starOut.java

public String starOut(String str) {
  String newStr = "";
  int[] stars = new int[str.length()];
  for (int i = 0; i < str.length(); i++) {
    if (str.substring(i, i+1).equals("*")) {
      if (i != 0) {
        stars[i-1] = 1;
      }
      stars[i] = 1;
      if (i + 1 < stars.length) {
        stars[i+1] = 1;
      }
    }
  }
  for (int j = 0; j < str.length(); j++) {
    if (stars[j] == 0)
      newStr += str.substring(j, j + 1);
  }
  return newStr;
}