We Keep Coding

Accepting string inputs into an array and checking the availability of the string in the array

So I am completely new to java, and I want to create a code to accept string inputs from a user, and store it into an array. After this in the next statement, I will type a value into the terminal, and I want the code to compare my string input to one of the strings in the array and print available on the terminal when the string is available and vice versa. The first part of my code was right (hopefully) but I had a problem in comparing the strings. I feel it doesn't check the strings with my input in the code. Here is my code, Could anyone please help me with this? Thank you so much.
import java.util.Scanner;
class Course {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
String a[] = new String[20] //assuming max 20 strings
System.out.println("Enter no. of courses");
int no_of_courses = sc.nextInt(); // number of strings
if (no_of_courses <= 0)
System.out.println("Invalid Range");
else {
System.out.println("Enter course names:");
for (int i = 0; i < no_of_courses; i++) {
a[i] = sc.next(); //accepting string inputs
}
System.out.println("Enter the course to be searched:");
String search = sc.next() //entering a string to search
for (int i = 0; i < no_of_courses; i++) {
if (a[i].equals(search)) //I feel the problem is here
System.out.println(search + "course is available");
break;
else
System.out.println(search + "course is not available");
}
}
}
}
I expect the output to be
<string> course is available
when my string matches a string in the array and
<string> course is not available
when my entered string doesn't match a string in the array
But there is no output :(

I have modified your code and commented on line where it need to be explained. check it carefully.
import java.util.Scanner;
class Course {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.println("Enter no. of courses");
int no_of_courses = sc.nextInt(); // number of strings
String a[] = new String[no_of_courses]; // do not assume when you have proper data.
if (no_of_courses <= 0)
System.out.println("Invalid Range");
else {
System.out.println("Enter course names:");
for (int i = 0; i < no_of_courses; i++) {
a[i] = sc.next(); // accepting string inputs
}
System.out.println("Enter the course to be searched:");
String search = sc.next(); // entering a string to search
boolean flag = false;
for (int i = 0; i < no_of_courses; i++) {
if (a[i].equals(search)) // I feel the problem is here
{
flag = true;//do not print here. just decide whether course is available or not
break;
}
}
//at the end of for loop check your flag and print accordingly.
if(flag) {
System.out.println(search + "course is available");
}else {
System.out.println(search + "course is not available");
}
}
}
}

class Course {
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
String a[] = new String[20] ; //assuming max 20 strings
System.out.println("Enter no. of courses");
int no_of_courses = sc.nextInt(); // number of strings
if(no_of_courses <= 0)
System.out.println("Invalid Range");
else
{
System.out.println("Enter course names:");
for(int i=0 ; i < no_of_courses ; i++)
{
a[i] = sc.next(); //accepting string inputs
}
System.out.println("Enter the course to be searched:");
String search = sc.next() ; //entering a string to search
boolean found = false;
for(int i = 0 ; i < no_of_courses ; i++)
{
if(a[i].equalsIgnoreCase(search)) //I feel the problem is here
{
**found = true;**
break;
}
}
if(found) {
System.out.println(search+ "course is available");
}else {
System.out.println(search+ "course is not available");
}
}
}
}

This is really a good effort and you almost got it. So just a couple of things
Since you are inputting the number of courses, just use that value to initialise your array (it's just a good practice to get into to try not initialise things before you actually need them).
If you are doing String comparisons and case sensitivity does not matter, rather use .equalsIgnoreCase(String)
To solve your problem, you just needed a boolean variable to indicate whether or not you had found a match. Initially this would be FALSE (no match found) and you would run through your array until a match is found. Once found this would be flagged TRUE and you'd breakout your loop (which you correctly did).
Only once out your loop, you'd print out whether you found a match.
Have a look:
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.println("Enter no. of courses");
int no_of_courses = sc.nextInt(); // number of strings
if (no_of_courses <= 0) {
System.out.println("Invalid Range");
} else {
String a[] = new String[no_of_courses];
System.out.println("Enter course names:");
for (int i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
a[i] = sc.next(); //accepting string inputs
}
System.out.println("Enter the course to be searched:");
String search = sc.next(); //entering a string to search
boolean courseFound = Boolean.FALSE;
for(int i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
if (a[i].equalsIgnoreCase(search)) {
courseFound = Boolean.TRUE;
break;
}
}
if(courseFound) {
System.out.println(search + "course is available");
} else {
System.out.println(search + " course is not available");
}
}
}
Oh, just for interest (and when you start working with some more advanced constructs), you could always just use stream, which was introduced in Java 8. It'll trim down 12 lines to 5...
if(Arrays.stream(a).anyMatch(i -> i.equalsIgnoreCase(search))) {
System.out.println(search + " course is available");
} else {
System.out.println(search + " course is not available");
}

I noticed a few things - Does your program run to the end? When i copy/pasted into my ide i noticed a few missing semi-colons, and like Yhlas said, your last if/else statement syntax is incorrect.
And this doesn't have anything to do with whether or not your program will give you the right answer, but your last loop will print over and over again because it will check each element in a, and each time it loops and finds a mismatch it will print something out

A logic error is causing a statement to be printed twice in a While Loop

So the problem that I am currently running into is that the statement "Enter your command (reverse, replace first, replace last, remove all, remove)" is printing twice after I go through all the steps.
What I believe is happening is the loop is executing twice but I don't know why. Any help would be appreciated in solving this problem. Sorry in advance if my code formatting is bad still learning how to properly format.
import java.util.Scanner;
public class StringChangerenter {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
// Output Variables
String userInput = "";
// Variables
String removeChar = "", removeAllChar = "";
int removeIndex = 0;
// First Output
System.out.println("Enter the string to be manipulated");
userInput = keyboard.nextLine();
String command = "";
// While loop
while (!command.equalsIgnoreCase("quit")) {
// Output
System.out.println("Enter your command (reverse, replace first, replace last, remove all, remove)");
command = keyboard.nextLine();
if (command.equalsIgnoreCase("remove")) {
System.out.println("Enter the character to remove");
removeChar = keyboard.nextLine();
int totalCount = 0;
for (int j = 0; j < userInput.length(); j++) {
if (userInput.charAt(j) == removeChar.charAt(0)) {
totalCount = totalCount + 1;
}
}
System.out.println("Enter the " + removeChar
+ " you would like to remove (Not the index - 1 = 1st, 2 = 2nd, etc.):");
removeIndex = keyboard.nextInt();
int currentIndex = 1;
if (removeIndex <= totalCount) {
for (int i = 0; i < userInput.length(); i++) {
if (userInput.charAt(i) == removeChar.charAt(0)) {
if (currentIndex == removeIndex) {
String firstpartOfString = userInput.substring(0, i);
String secondpartOfString = userInput.substring(i + 1, userInput.length());
System.out.println("The new sentence is " + firstpartOfString + secondpartOfString);
userInput = firstpartOfString + secondpartOfString;
break;
} else {
currentIndex = currentIndex + 1;
}
}
}
} else {
System.out.println("Can't find " + removeChar + " occuring at " + removeIndex + " int the string.");
}
// Remove All Code
} else if (command.equalsIgnoreCase("remove all")) {
System.out.println("Enter the character to remove");
removeAllChar = keyboard.next();
String newString = "";
for (int i = 0; i < userInput.length(); i++) {
if (userInput.charAt(i) != removeAllChar.charAt(0)) {
newString = newString + userInput.charAt(i);
}
}
userInput = newString;
System.out.println("The new sentence is " + userInput);
}
// Bracket for while loop
}
}
}

The reason you are getting two entries after you've processed a character, is that you have not fully read the line containing the character.
Specifically, you use keyboard.nextInt(); in the upper branch, and keyboard.next(); in the lower branch. While these read the next integer and character, respectively, they do not process the end of line marker.
Then when you reach the top of the loop, you call keyboard.nextLine() which processes whatever characters occurred after the int (or character, in the remove all case) until the end of line marker. With the expected user input, that's just an empty string.
To fix this, you need to ensure you read all the way through the keyboard.nextLine() in the cases where you are reading only integers, or a single character.

what is happening is, the condition for you while loop is
while (!command.equalsIgnoreCase("quit"))
which in english mean, as long as command is not equal to "quit" then run this loop.
Inside the loop, command is never actually set to "quit". ex if I give input string as "abcde" and ask to remove "c" at position 1.
Then your logic sets command to "remove" here
command = keyboard.nextLine();
and then prints the final value as "abde". Now when the loop ends, command is still "remove" and hence the loop executes again.
A possible solution is to explicitly ask the user if he wants to retry using a do while loop. Also just a tip, i see you have used nextInt. It is advisable to use a nextLine immediately after next int. see this for the reason why: Java Scanner doesn't wait for user input
this is what you code would be if you explicitly took user consent if you want to run any more commands:
public static void main (String[] args) throws java.lang.Exception
{
Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
// Output Variables
String userInput = "";
// Variables
String removeChar = "", removeAllChar = "";
int removeIndex = 0;
// First Output
System.out.println("Enter the string to be manipulated");
userInput = keyboard.nextLine();
String command = "";
String retry = "";
// While loop
do {
// Output
System.out.println("Enter your command (reverse, replace first, replace last, remove all, remove)");
command = keyboard.nextLine();
if (command.equalsIgnoreCase("remove")) {
System.out.println("Enter the character to remove");
removeChar = keyboard.nextLine();
int totalCount = 0;
for (int j = 0; j < userInput.length(); j++) {
if (userInput.charAt(j) == removeChar.charAt(0)) {
totalCount = totalCount + 1;
}
}
System.out.println("Enter the " + removeChar
+ " you would like to remove (Not the index - 1 = 1st, 2 = 2nd, etc.):");
removeIndex = keyboard.nextInt();
keyboard.nextLine();
int currentIndex = 1;
if (removeIndex <= totalCount) {
for (int i = 0; i < userInput.length(); i++) {
if (userInput.charAt(i) == removeChar.charAt(0)) {
if (currentIndex == removeIndex) {
String firstpartOfString = userInput.substring(0, i);
String secondpartOfString = userInput.substring(i + 1, userInput.length());
System.out.println("The new sentence is " + firstpartOfString + secondpartOfString);
userInput = firstpartOfString + secondpartOfString;
break;
} else {
currentIndex = currentIndex + 1;
}
}
}
} else {
System.out.println("Can't find " + removeChar + " occuring at " + removeIndex + " int the string.");
}
// Remove All Code
} else if (command.equalsIgnoreCase("remove all")) {
System.out.println("Enter the character to remove");
removeAllChar = keyboard.next();
String newString = "";
for (int i = 0; i < userInput.length(); i++) {
if (userInput.charAt(i) != removeAllChar.charAt(0)) {
newString = newString + userInput.charAt(i);
}
}
userInput = newString;
System.out.println("The new sentence is " + userInput);
}
System.out.println("Do you want to go again?");
retry = keyboard.nextLine();
// Bracket for while loop
}while("yes".equalsIgnoreCase(retry));
}

String index out of range inside of a method: Java

I was writing some code for my class and I ran into this error, String index out of range. I checked to see if it might be the string = null but that's not the case. I'm guessing it has to do with my if statement in the method but I couldn't find how to fix it anywhere. Any help is appreciated, thank you very much!
import java.util.*;
public class Occurences {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int check = 0;
char characterInput = ' ';
do {
Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.println("Please enter a string: ");
String input = scan.next();
System.out.println("Enter a character to find it's occurence in the string: ");
characterInput = scan.next().charAt(0);
int i = count(input, characterInput);
System.out.println(characterInput + ", is in " + input + ", " + i + " times.");
System.out.println("To continue enter any number, to exit enter -1: ");
check = scan.nextInt();
} while (check != -1);
}
public static int count(String input, char characterInput) {
int cnt = 0;
int j = input.length();
while (j > 0) {
if (input.charAt(j) == characterInput) {
cnt += 1;
}
j--;
}
return cnt;
}
}

The error happens on line 21: int j = input.length(), as others mentioned in the comments, java, and most programming languages, index strings and array types by zero-indexing - starting from zero. So you have to either 1) start counting at 0 or 2) stop counting at one-less-than the length of the string(array), which is why line 21 needs to be either:
int j = input.length()-1;
or as you solved it using method 1:
setting int j=0;

Hangman code stuck on three different problems

I'm trying to make a hangman game. On each turn, the user guesses a letter. If they guessed correctly, they can guess again. Otherwise, their remaining available guesses drops by one, and the guessed letter is put into an array.
When the user hits zero remaining guesses, the program is supposed to ask if they want to play again. If they answer yes, it is supposed to restart the game, and if they answer no, the program ends.
The problem I'm having is with the array that holds the guesses, and with restarting the game.
Also, the program will error every once in a while when starting. The error is
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException at Hangman1.main(Hangman1.java:27)
The error when trying to restart the game is
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException at Hangman1.main(Hangman1.java:101)
searchArray is the method that is supposed to take the position of the char array and copy that in asterisk array and return asterisk array, that doesn't seem to work. Running debug it seems the problem that causes the program to crash is that word will sometimes end up null, but only sometimes and I don't really know why
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
public class Hangman1 {
static Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
public static final int MAXSIZE = 15000;
public static final int NUM_GUESS = 8;
public static final int WORD_LENGTH = 20;
public static void main(String[] args) {
int random = pickrandom(MAXSIZE);
try {
// Set up connection to the input file
Scanner input = new Scanner(new FileReader("dictionary.txt"));
instructions();
keyboard.nextLine();
clearScreen();
String word = randomWord(input, random);
System.out.println(word);
String[] charArray = word.split("");
System.out.print("\n");
String[] asterisk = asteriskLine(word);
String decision = "Y";
//decision = keyboard.nextLine().toUpperCase();
System.out.println("Word to guess :");
for (int count = 0; count < word.length(); count++) {
System.out.print(asterisk[count]);
}
System.out.print("\n");
int tries = NUM_GUESS;
System.out.println("Enter a letter to guess or 9 to quit");
String guess = keyboard.next();
String[] wrongGuesses = new String [NUM_GUESS];
int guessMade = 0;
do {
//System.out.println(tries);
while (!(guess.equals("9")) && !(guess.equals(word)) && (tries > 0))
{
String letter = guess.substring(0,1);
if (word.indexOf(letter) < 0) {
clearScreen();
tries--;
wrongGuesses = wrongGuesses(guessMade, wrongGuesses, letter);
printArray(asterisk, charArray, word, tries, wrongGuesses, guessMade);
guessMade++;
guess = keyboard.next();
}
else {
clearScreen();
asterisk = searchArray(charArray, asterisk, guessMade, letter, word);
printArray(asterisk, charArray, word, tries, wrongGuesses, guessMade);
guess = keyboard.next();
}
if (charArray == asterisk) {
System.out.println("You won!");
}
if (tries == 0) {
System.out.println("You have no more guesses left");
}
}
if (guess.equals("9")) {
System.out.println("Thanks for playing");
}
System.out.println("Play again? Y/N");
decision = keyboard.next().toUpperCase();
if (decision.equals("Y")) {
random = pickrandom(MAXSIZE);
word = randomWord(input, random);
charArray = word.split("");
System.out.print("\n");
asterisk = asteriskLine(word);
guess = keyboard.next();
}
} while (decision.equals("Y"));
//System.out.println("Play again? Y/N");
//decision = keyboard.nextLine().toUpperCase();
}
catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
System.out.println("There was an error opening one of the files.");
}
}
//Clears screen after introduction
private static void clearScreen() {
for (int blanks = 0; blanks < 80; blanks++) {
System.out.println();
}
}
// This method returns a randomly selected integer
// between 0 and count-1
public static int pickrandom(int count) {
Random generator = new Random();
return generator.nextInt(count);
}
// Places asterisks in place of the letters in the word
// Parameter is the string word. it holds mystery word
public static String[] asteriskLine(String word) {
int i;
String[] asteriskArray = new String [word.length()];
for (i = 0; i < word.length(); i++) {
asteriskArray[i] = "* ";
}
return asteriskArray;
}
public static void instructions() {
System.out.println(" H A N G M A N. "
+ "\n This is a word guessing game. "
+ "\n A word will be selected at random and kept hidden. You will try to figure out the secret word by"
+ "\n guessing letters which you think are in the word. "
+ "\n You will guess one letter at a time. "
+ "\n If the letter you guess is correct, the position(s) of the letter in the secret word will be shown. "
+ "\n You will be allowed "
+ NUM_GUESS
+ " wrong guesses If you guess incorrectly "
+ NUM_GUESS
+ " times, you lose the game. "
+ "\n If you guess all of the letters in the word, you win."
+ "\n\n Press enter to continue ");
}
public static String randomWord(Scanner input, int random) {
String[] dictionaryWords = new String [MAXSIZE];
int usedsize = 0;
while (usedsize < MAXSIZE && input.hasNextLine()) {
dictionaryWords[usedsize] = input.nextLine();
usedsize++;
}
String word = dictionaryWords[random];
return word;
}
//Replaces correct guess in blanks
public static String correctWord(String guess, String word, String asterisk, char letter) {
return null;
}
public static void printArray(String[] asterisk, String[] charArray, String word, int tries, String[] wrongGuesses, int guessMade) {
System.out.println("Word to guess");
for (int count = 0; count < word.length(); count++) {
System.out.print(asterisk[count]);
}
System.out.println("\nGuesses remaining: " + tries);
System.out.print("Incorrect letters tried: ");
for (int count = 0; count <= guessMade; count++) {
System.out.print(wrongGuesses[count] + " ");
}
System.out.println("\nEnter a letter to guess or 9 to quit");
}
public static String[] wrongGuesses(int guessMade, String [] wrongGuesses, String letter) {
wrongGuesses[guessMade] = letter;
return wrongGuesses;
}
public static String[] searchArray(String[] charArray, String[] asterisk, int guessMade, String letter, String word) {
int[] a = new int[word.length()];
for (int count = 0; count < word.length(); count++) {
if (letter == charArray[count]) {
asterisk[count] = charArray[count];
}
}
return asterisk;
}
}

One thing that you need to do is to read all of your words in once and only once, and store them all into an ArrayList. Your current code tries to re-use a Scanner object that is already spent, and that will fail. Instead get your random word from the ArrayList<String>.

Running debug it seems the problem that causes the program to crash is
that word will sometimes end up null, but only sometimes and I don't
really know why
public static String randomWord(Scanner input, int random) {
String[] dictionaryWords = new String [MAXSIZE];
int usedsize = 0;
while (usedsize < MAXSIZE && input.hasNextLine()) {
dictionaryWords[usedsize] = input.nextLine();
usedsize++;
}
String word = dictionaryWords[random];
return word;
}
Sometimes random will be bigger than usedsize.
So you need to move this line from outside the loop
int random = pickrandom(MAXSIZE);
into this function, and have the maximum be usedsize (or usedsize-1).
You can protect yourself against this error, and work out whether you should be using usedsize or usedsize-1, by writing a unit test. Look into a Junit tutorial.
In your junit test, call randomword and pass it a very high value for random. Then
assert(word!= null)
Word is null when random is longer than the length of your dictionary.

How to end a do while loop with a user inputted string?

public static void main (String[] args)
{
do {
Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.print("Enter a string: ");
String sentence = keyboard.nextLine();
System.out.print("Enter a letter: ");
String fullLetter = keyboard.nextLine();
char letter = fullLetter.charAt(0);
keyboard.nextLine();
int amount = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < sentence.length(); i++) {
char ch = sentence.charAt(i);
if (ch == letter) {
amount++;
}
}
System.out.println(letter + " appears " + amount + " times in " + sentence);
System.out.print("Continue? ");
String decide = keyboard.nextLine();
} while (decide.equals("yes"));
}
}
I want the user to input either "yes" or "no" at the end of the loop, then I want that input to determine whether or not the program will loop again. As it stands right now, the the last line of my code isn't working. I've looked around and I'm not sure what I should do to fix this.

You need to declare your variable decide outside the loop and initialize inside:
String decide;
do {
//do something ...
decide = keyboard.nextLine();
} while (decide.equals("yes"));

You should use keyboard.next() to read a String instead of keyboard.nextLine()
next() only reads a word, nextLine() reads the whole line including Enter so it will never be equal to "yes"

You must declare declare the string describe outside of the do/while loop, otherwise it is a local variable of the do/while loop, and cannot be accessed by the do testing portion. Simply using
public static void main(String[] args) {
String decide;
do {
Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.print("Enter a string: ");
String sentence = keyboard.nextLine();
System.out.print("Enter a letter: ");
String fullLetter = keyboard.nextLine();
char letter = fullLetter.charAt(0);
keyboard.nextLine();
int amount = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < sentence.length(); i++) {
char ch = sentence.charAt(i);
if (ch == letter) {
amount++;
}
}
System.out.println(letter + " appears " + amount + " times in "
+ sentence);
System.out.print("Continue? ");
decide = keyboard.nextLine();
} while (decide.equals("yes"));
}
will solve your problem.

You has to define your variable decide outside of the loop:
String decide = null
do {
....
decide = keyboard.nextLine();
} while (decide.equals("yes"));