title: Java Program giving Method/Return related errors.
body: <p>I'm working on Java homework, which is divided into several parts. I'm stuck on part 2. This is not meant to be a homework dump, I'm just stuck on part 2, I included part 1 and 3 for context. I'd really appreciate any help or feedback. Thanks!</p>
  
  <p>(1) Prompt the user to enter a string of their choosing. Store the text in a string. Output the string. (1 pt) </p>
  
  <p>Ex:</p>
  
  <p>Enter a sample text:
  We'll continue our quest in space.  There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and,  yes,  more volunteers, more civilians,  more teachers in space.  Nothing ends here;  our hopes and our journeys continue!</p>
  
  <p>You entered: We'll continue our quest in space.  There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and,  yes,  more volunteers, more civilians,  more teachers in space.  Nothing ends here;  our hopes and our journeys continue!</p>
  
  <p>(2) Implement a printMenu() method, which outputs a menu of user options for analyzing/editing the string, and returns the user's entered menu option. Each option is represented by a single character.</p>
  
  <p>If an invalid character is entered, continue to prompt for a valid choice. Hint: Implement Quit before implementing other options. Call printMenu() in the main() method. Continue to call printMenu() until the user enters q to Quit. (3 pts) </p>
  
  <p>Ex:</p>
  
  <p>MENU
  c - Number of non-whitespace characters
  w - Number of words
  f - Find text
  r - Replace all !'s
  s - Shorten spaces
  q - Quit</p>
  
  <p>Choose an option:</p>
  
  <p>(3) Implement the getNumOfNonWSCharacters() method. getNumOfNonWSCharacters() has a string as a parameter and returns the number of characters in the string, excluding all whitespace. Call getNumOfNonWSCharacters() in the main() method. (4 pts) </p>
  
  <p>Ex:</p>
  
  <p>Enter a sample text:
  We'll continue our quest in space.  There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and,  yes,  more volunteers, more civilians,  more teachers in space.  Nothing ends here;  our hopes and our journeys continue!</p>
  
  <p>You entered: We'll continue our quest in space.  There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and,  yes,  more volunteers, more civilians,  more teachers in space.  Nothing ends here;  our hopes and our journeys continue!</p>
  
  <p>MENU
  c - Number of non-whitespace characters
  w - Number of words
  f - Find text
  r - Replace all !'s
  s - Shorten spaces
  q - Quit</p>
  
  <p>Choose an option:
  c
  Number of non-whitespace characters: 181</p>
  
  <p>My code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>import java.util.Scanner;
  
  public class AuthoringAssistant {
  
     public static void main(String[] args) {
        Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
        String userInput = sc.nextLine();
        System.out.println("Enter a sample text: ");
        System.out.println(userInput);
  
        return printMenu;
     }
  
     public static int printMenu(Character[] menu) {
        Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
        Character userChar = in.nextCharacter();
        System.out.println("MENU");
        System.out.println("c - Number of non-whitespace characters");
        System.out.println("w - Number of words");
        System.out.println("f - Find text");
        System.out.println("r - Replace all !'s");
        System.out.println("s - Shorten spaces");
        System.out.println("q - Quit");
        System.out.println("Choose an option: ");
  
        if (userChar == 'q') {
           System.out.println("q"); 
           System.out.println("Quit");
        }
        else if (userChar == 'w') {
           System.out.println("w");
           System.out.println("Number of words: ");
        }
        else if (userChar == 'f') {
           System.out.println("f");
           System.out.println("Find text: ");
        }
        else if (userChar == 'r') {
           System.out.println("r");
           System.out.println("Replace all !'s: ");
        }
        else if (userChar == 's') {
           System.out.println("s");
           System.out.println("Shorten spaces: ");
        }
        else if (userChar == 'c') {
           System.out.println("c");
           System.out.println("Number of non-whitespace characters: ");
        }  
        else {
           System.out.println("Please select a valid character.");
        }
  
        return char in.nextCharacter();
     }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'm getting the following errors:</p>
  
  <pre><code>AuthoringAssistant.java:55: error: '.class' expected
        return char in.nextCharacter();
                ^
  AuthoringAssistant.java:55: error: illegal start of expression
        return char in.nextCharacter();
                  ^
  AuthoringAssistant.java:55: error: ';' expected
        return char in.nextCharacter();
                                ^
  3 errors
  </code></pre>