public SequencePattern.PatternExpr getSequencePatternExpr(String name, boolean copy) { Object obj = variables.get(name); if (obj != null) { if (obj instanceof SequencePattern) { SequencePattern seqPattern = (SequencePattern) obj; return seqPattern.getPatternExpr(); } else if (obj instanceof SequencePattern.PatternExpr) { SequencePattern.PatternExpr pe = (SequencePattern.PatternExpr) obj; return (copy) ? pe.copy() : pe; } else if (obj instanceof NodePattern) { return new SequencePattern.NodePatternExpr((NodePattern) obj); } else if (obj instanceof String) { try { return parser.parseSequence(this, (String) obj); } catch (Exception pex) { throw new RuntimeException("Error parsing " + obj + " to sequence pattern", pex); } } else { throw new Error("Invalid sequence pattern variable class: " + obj.getClass()); } } return null; }