@smallpepperz Thank you! That clarifies it. I guess my final question would be how this statement would look for each check of the two if conditions:

if (i - j - 1 < new_str.length && new_str[j] != new_str[i - j - 1])

Would it be, check #1:

if (8-0-1 < 8 && a != ?)

check #2:

if (8-1-1 < 8 && b != ?)

check #3

if (8-2-1 < 8 && c != ?)

And what would "new_str[i - j - 1]" be in each of these 3 iterations?