retValue = retValue.substring(2);

                if (retValue.length() >= 2 && (retValue.charAt(1) == '|' || retValue.charAt(1) == ':')) {
                    // special case: if there is a windows drive letter, then keep the original return value
                    retValue = retValue.charAt(0) + ":" + retValue.substring(2);
                } else {
                    // Now we expect the host

    checkNotNull(a);
    checkNotNull(b);

    int maxPrefixLength = Math.min(a.length(), b.length());
    int p = 0;
    while (p < maxPrefixLength && a.charAt(p) == b.charAt(p)) {
      p++;
    }
    if (validSurrogatePairAt(a, p - 1) || validSurrogatePairAt(b, p - 1)) {
      p--;
    }
    return a.subSequence(0, p).toString();
  }

  /**

    String expected = begin + end;
    assertEquals(expected.charAt(0), joinedReader.read());
    CharStreams.skipFully(joinedReader, 1);
    assertEquals(expected.charAt(2), joinedReader.read());
    CharStreams.skipFully(joinedReader, 4);
    assertEquals(expected.charAt(7), joinedReader.read());
    CharStreams.skipFully(joinedReader, 1);
    assertEquals(expected.charAt(9), joinedReader.read());
    assertEquals(-1, joinedReader.read());

    idx++;

    if (c != '?' && c != ',') {
      while (idx < encodedLen) {
        // Read all the children
        idx += doParseTrieToBuilder(stack, encoded, idx, builder);

        if (encoded.charAt(idx) == '?' || encoded.charAt(idx) == ',') {
          // An extra '?' or ',' after a child node indicates the end of all children of this node.
          idx++;
          break;
        }
      }
    }

    stack.pop();

      chars.add(randomAlpha());
    }
    for (int i = 0; i < nonAlpha; i++) {
      chars.add(randomNonAlpha());
    }
    Collections.shuffle(chars, random);
    char[] array = Chars.toArray(chars);
    this.testString = new String(array);
  }

  private char randomAlpha() {
    return ALPHA.charAt(random.nextInt(ALPHA.length()));
  }

  private char randomNonAlpha() {

      chars.add(randomAlpha());
    }
    for (int i = 0; i < nonAlpha; i++) {
      chars.add(randomNonAlpha());
    }
    Collections.shuffle(chars, random);
    char[] array = Chars.toArray(chars);
    this.testString = new String(array);
  }

  private char randomAlpha() {
    return ALPHA.charAt(random.nextInt(ALPHA.length()));
  }

  private char randomNonAlpha() {

                continue;
            }

            char ch = s.charAt(pos);
            pos++;
            if (ch == '\\') {
                sb.append(ch);
                if (pos >= end) {
                    break; // ERROR, or let it go?
                }
                ch = s.charAt(pos);
                pos++;
            }

            sb.append(ch);
        }

    if (chars instanceof String) {
      return toLowerCase((String) chars);
    }
    char[] newChars = new char[chars.length()];
    for (int i = 0; i < newChars.length; i++) {
      newChars[i] = toLowerCase(chars.charAt(i));
    }
    return String.valueOf(newChars);
  }

  /**
   * If the argument is an {@linkplain #isUpperCase(char) uppercase ASCII character}, returns the

    int utf8Length = utf16Length;
    int i = 0;

    // This loop optimizes for pure ASCII.
    while (i < utf16Length && sequence.charAt(i) < 0x80) {
      i++;
    }

    // This loop optimizes for chars less than 0x800.
    for (; i < utf16Length; i++) {
      char c = sequence.charAt(i);
      if (c < 0x800) {
        utf8Length += ((0x7f - c) >>> 31); // branch free!
      } else {

            final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
            for (int i = 0; i < s.length(); i++) {
                final char ch = s.charAt(i);
                if (ch == '\\' && i < s.length() - 1) {
                    i++;
                    sb.append(s.charAt(i));
                } else {
                    sb.append(ch);
                }
            }
            return sb.toString();
        }