Palindrome program help

I'm very new to programming and I'm in my first programming class. I was given a palindrome program and was asked to have the program test for palindromes while ignoring spaces and punctuation, I believe
that I am on track to get this done but I don't know where I have gone wrong, does anyone have any suggestions?

Code Java:

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import java.util.Scanner;
 
public class PalindromeTester
{
   //-----------------------------------------------------------------
   //  Tests strings to see if they are palindromes.
   //-----------------------------------------------------------------
   public static void main (String[] args)
   {
      String str, another = "y";
      int left, right;
 
      Scanner scan = new Scanner (System.in);
 
      while (another.equalsIgnoreCase("y")) // allows y or Y
      {
         System.out.println ("Enter a potential palindrome:");
		 String input = scan.nextLine();
         String strippedInput = input.replaceAll("\\W", "");
		 str = scan.nextLine();
 
		 }
 
		 left = 0;
         right = str.length() - 1;
 
         while (str.charAt(left) == str.charAt(right) && left < right)
         {
            left++;
            right--;
         }
 
         System.out.println();
 
         if (left < right)
            System.out.println ("That string is NOT a palindrome.");
         else
            System.out.println ("That string IS a palindrome.");
 
         System.out.println();
         System.out.print ("Test another palindrome (y/n)? ");
         another = scan.nextLine();
      }
   }

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Please do not duplicate threads...I have removed your other thread and moved this to a more appropriate location.

Quote:

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String input = scan.nextLine();
String strippedInput = input.replaceAll("\\W", "");
str = scan.nextLine();

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What is the point of this code segment?

After you ask for a palindrome, you assign it to strippedInput and then immediately expect more input. Why?

Quote:

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while (str.charAt(left) == str.charAt(right) && left < right)
{
left++;
right--;
}


System.out.println();

if (left < right)
System.out.println ("That string is NOT a palindrome.");
else
System.out.println ("That string IS a palindrome.");

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What if the string has an even number of chars? i.e., "pannap" that IS a palindrome