A Shortcut

import java.io.*;
import org.jdom.*;
import org.jdom.output.XMLOutputter;


public class BaseballTabToXMLShortcut {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
     
    Element root = new Element("players");
    
    try {
      FileInputStream fin = new FileInputStream(args[0]);
      BufferedReader in 
       = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(fin));    

      String playerStats;  
      while ((playerStats = in.readLine()) != null) {
        String[] stats = splitLine(playerStats);
        
        Element player = new Element("player");

        player.addChild((new Element("first_name")).setContent(stats[1]));
        player.addChild((new Element("surname")).setContent(stats[0]));
        player.addChild((new Element("games_played")).setContent(stats[4]));
        player.addChild((new Element("at_bats")).setContent(stats[6]));
        player.addChild((new Element("runs")).setContent(stats[7]));
        player.addChild((new Element("hits")).setContent(stats[8]));
        player.addChild((new Element("doubles")).setContent(stats[9]));
        player.addChild((new Element("triples")).setContent(stats[10]));
        player.addChild((new Element("home_runs")).setContent(stats[11]));
        player.addChild((new Element("runs_batted_in")).setContent(stats[12]));
        player.addChild((new Element("stolen_bases")).setContent(stats[13]));
        player.addChild((new Element("caught_stealing")).setContent(stats[14]));
        player.addChild((new Element("sacrifice_hits")).setContent(stats[15]));
        player.addChild((new Element("sacrifice_flies")).setContent(stats[16]));
        player.addChild((new Element("errors")).setContent(stats[17]));
        player.addChild((new Element("passed_by_ball")).setContent(stats[18]));
        player.addChild((new Element("walks")).setContent(stats[19]));
        player.addChild((new Element("strike_outs")).setContent(stats[20]));
        player.addChild((new Element("hit_by_pitch")).setContent(stats[21]));
        
        root.addChild(player);
      }  
      
      Document doc = new Document(root);
      // serialize it into a file
      FileOutputStream fout 
       = new FileOutputStream("baseballstats.xml");
      
      XMLOutputter serializer = new XMLOutputter(); 
      serializer.output(doc, fout);
      fout.flush();	
      fout.close();
      in.close();
      
    }
    catch (IOException e) {
      System.err.println(e);
    }
    catch (ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
      System.out.println("Usage: java BaseballTabToXML input_file.tab");
    }

  }

  public static String[] splitLine(String playerStats) {
    
    // count the number of tabs
    int numTabs = 0;
    for (int i = 0; i < playerStats.length(); i++) {
      if (playerStats.charAt(i) == '\t') numTabs++;
    }
    int numFields = numTabs + 1;
    String[] fields = new String[numFields];
    int position = 0;
    for (int i = 0; i < numFields; i++) {
      StringBuffer field = new StringBuffer();
      while (position < playerStats.length() 
       && playerStats.charAt(position++) != '\t') {
        field.append(playerStats.charAt(position-1));
      }
      fields[i] = field.toString();
    }    
    return fields;
    
  }

}