diff --git a/proposal/sandbox/filterreaders/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/filters/StripJavaComments.java b/proposal/sandbox/filterreaders/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/filters/StripJavaComments.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b7c77cecf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proposal/sandbox/filterreaders/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/filters/StripJavaComments.java
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+package org.apache.tools.ant.filters;
+
+import java.io.FilterReader;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.Reader;
+
+/**
+ * This is a java comment and string stripper reader that filters
+ * these lexical tokens out for purposes of simple Java parsing.
+ * (if you have more complex Java parsing needs, use a real lexer).
+ * Since this class heavily relies on the single char read function,
+ * you are reccomended to make it work on top of a buffered reader.
+ */
+public final class StripJavaComments extends FilterReader {
+
+    /**
+     * Create a new filtered reader.
+     *
+     * @param in  a Reader object providing the underlying stream.
+     */
+    public StripJavaComments(final Reader in) {
+        super(in);
+    }
+
+    public final int read() throws IOException {
+        int ch = in.read();
+        if (ch == '/') {
+            ch = in.read();
+            if (ch == '/') {
+                while (ch != '\n' && ch != -1) {
+                    ch = in.read();
+                }
+            } else if (ch == '*') {
+                while (ch != -1) {
+                    ch = in.read();
+                    if (ch == '*') {
+                        ch = in.read();
+                        while (ch == '*' && ch != -1) {
+                            ch = in.read();
+                        }
+
+                        if (ch == '/') {
+                            ch = read();
+                            break;
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (ch == '"') {
+            while (ch != -1) {
+                ch = in.read();
+                if (ch == '\\') {
+                    ch = in.read();
+                } else if (ch == '"') {
+                    ch = read();
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (ch == '\'') {
+            ch = in.read();
+            if (ch == '\\') {
+                ch = in.read();
+            }
+            ch = in.read();
+            ch = read();
+        }
+
+        return ch;
+    }
+
+    public final int read(final char cbuf[], final int off,
+                          final int len) throws IOException {
+        for (int i = 0; i < len; i++) {
+            final int ch = read();
+            if (ch == -1) {
+                if (i == 0) {
+                    return -1;
+                } else {
+                    return i;
+                }
+            }
+            cbuf[off + i] = (char) ch;
+        }
+        return len;
+    }
+
+    public final long skip(final long n) throws IOException {
+        for (long i = 0; i < n; i++) {
+            if (in.read() == -1) return i;
+        }
+        return n;
+    }
+}