import java.util.Scanner;

/**
 * Program that removes the middle character of a string.
 * 
 * @author Steven Karas
 */
public class MidBlaster {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);

		/*
		 * It's important to make the distinction between a string and a word. A
		 * string is a sequence of characters stored together. A word is a
		 * couple of letters, seperated by spaces.
		 * 
		 * You can read words using scan.next(), but strings are read with
		 * scan.nextLine().
		 */
		// Get the number from the user
		System.out.print("Enter a string: ");
		String word = scan.nextLine();

		/*
		 * There may be another way to do this. It's important to remember to
		 * use helper variables with algorithms like this. Otherwise the code
		 * can turn out really long and impossible to understand.
		 */
		// break up the word around the center character.
		String prefix = word.substring(0, word.length() / 2);
		String suffix = word.substring(word.length() / 2 + 1, word.length());

		// output the new word
		System.out.println(prefix + suffix);
	}

}