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Is it possible to add an or condition to an if statement in java?

So recently I've switched over from python to java and was trying to recreate some of the projects that I made on python in java. The first thing that came to mind was a quiz.
Basically, to create a quiz, I define an answer variable to the answer then use the scanner method in java to detect the user's input. After that, I use an if statement to see if the input equals the answer.
ex.
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);
String answer = "dog";
System.out.println("What is a common furry animal");
String input = scan.nextLine( );
if (input.equals(answer))
{
System.out.println("Correct");
}
else
{
System.out.println("Inncorect");
}
}
}
Now that all works but the user doesn't know the exact casing of the answer variable which means if the variable was "dog" and he input "Dog" it would be incorrect. So if it was possible to create an "or" condition to an if statement it would be awesome if someone let me know.
-Thanks

To or any condition in Java, use the conventional || to separate conditions. In your case it would be something like:
if (input.equals(answer) || input.equalsIgnoreCase(answer))
Although you probably just need the Java method equalsIgnoreCase as the lone condition in the first place.

Something can't be resolved?

Trying to test my java "skills" and make a text based game--except i can't get the user input. i already importd the scanner class, and it works well w/ integers so idk what the problem is quite frankly. whenever i try to compile it, the lines containing "String name = scanner.next();" show up with a 'Scanner cannot be resolved' error.
import java.util.Scanner;
public class CH1 {
public static void main (String args[]) {
Scanner s= new Scanner( System.in);
int answer;
System.out.println ("You're in grave danger, but first, I must know your name. Will you tell me? ");
answer = s.nextInt();
if (answer == 1) {
System.out.println ("I respect your decision, but I'll need to know your name
if you turn up dead, unless you want to have a one man funeral.");
System.out.println ("What's your name?");
String name = scanner.next();
}
else if (answer == 2) {
System.out.println("Great, now what's your name?");
String name = scanner.next();
}
else {
System.out.println(" Huh? I didn't really get that. (1 for no, 2 for yes.)");
}
}
}

You named that scanner s first!
You can't just use a different name later on!
So simply change the scanner variable name to "scanner" and keep using that name.
Beyond that: Single character variable names are something you almost never do (except for index values in for loops). The point is: variable names should say something about the thing they denote. "s" says nothing!

Using a method to find the letter in the inputted integer

"Write and test the method that returns a letter of the alphabet from a given word, it the position is given. (Hint: use the method that begins with static char getLetter (String txt, int n)."
I've been staring at this question for 20 minutes, can't seem to understand what it wants me to do.
This is what I have so far:
// The "Divide_raminAmiri" class.
public class Divide_raminAmiri
{
public static void main (String[] args)
{
String word;
int location;
System.out.println ("Enter a word.");
word = In.getString ();
System.out.println ("Enter the location of the letter.");
location = In.getInt ();
} // main method
public static void test (char c)
{
System.out.println (word.charAt (location));
}
} // Divide_raminAmiri class
I'm confused. I think what it wants me to do is use methods to find the letter at the location provided, but I'm getting errors. Any help appreciated!

Okay so I'm not gonna give the full solution since this seems to be some kind of an exercise.
What might help you:
The way you are doing it, you can't access the variable word in the test-method because it is only visible to the main-method, that's why we use parameters so you can pass variables to other methods.
Speaking of parameters, your method is asked to have two parameters, one being the String and one being an int, your test-method only has a char as parameter (?)
Your program starts and ends in the main-method, since you don't call your test-method there, it never gets executed.
Hints for your actual problem:
You can get a char at position x from a String with the method
char myChar = myString.charAt(x);
A char can be cast to an int with
int asciiValue = (int) myChar;
My last hint: Big letters have an ASCII-Value starting at 65 (='A'), small letters of 97 (='a').
Hope that helped, if you got any more questions feel free to ask.

Can I use startsWith and endsWith in Java to check input?

In Java can I use startsWith and endsWith to check a user input string? Specifically, to compare first and last Characters of the input?
EDIT1: Wow you guys are fast. Thank you for the responses.
EDIT2: So CharAt is way more efficient.
So How do I catch the First and last Letter?
char result1 = s.charAt(0);
char result2 = s.charAt(?);
EDIT3: I am very close to making this loop work, but something is critically wrong.
I had some very good help earlier, Thank you all again.
import java.util.Scanner;
public class module6
{
public static void main(String[]args){
Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);
while(true){
System.out.print("Please enter words ending in 999 \n");
System.out.print("Word:");
String answer;
answer = scan.next();
char aChar = answer.charAt(0);
char bChar = answer.charAt(answer.length()-1);
String MATCH = new String("The word "+answer+" has first and last characters that are the same");
String FINISH = new String("Goodbye");
if((aChar == bChar));
{
System.out.println(MATCH);
}
if(answer !="999")
{
System.out.println(FINISH);
break;
}
}
}
}
The loop just executes everything, No matter what is input. Where did I go wrong?

In Java can I use startsWith and endsWith to check a user input string?
You certainly can: that is what these APIs are for. Read the input into a String, then use startsWith/endsWith as needed. Depending on the API that you use to collect your input you may need to do null checking. But the API itself is rather straightforward, and it does precisely what its name says.
Specifically, to compare first and last Characters of the input?
Using startsWith/endsWith for a single character would be a major overkill. You can use charAt to get these characters as needed, and then use == for the comparison.

yes, you should be able to do that and it should be pretty striaghtforward. Is there a complexity that you are not asking?

Yes, in fact, not just characters, but entire strings too.
For example
public class SOQ4
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
String example = "Hello there my friend";
if(example.startsWith("Hell"))
{
System.out.println("It can do full words");
}
if(example.startsWith("H"))
{
System.out.println("And it can also do letters");
}
if(example.endsWith("end"))
{
System.out.println("Don't forget the end!");
}
if(example.endsWith("d"))
{
System.out.print("Don't forget to upvote! ;)");
}
}
}
I recommend you use the API, here's a link to it http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/String.html

How to use indexOf? Please help a beginner out

So I want to know what indexOf() does. As I want to use it in my program it find out how many vowels are in a word that the user inputs.
public static boolean methodCheck(char a){
return "AEIOUaeiou".indexOf(a) != -1;
}
But that doesnt seem to work at all hahah. as I have no idea what indexOf() actually does. anyway here is my program so far(sorry if its bad I'm really new). I left 5 questions too that would help me a lot! please and thank you for your help :D
import java.util.Scanner;
public class vowelCounter {
private static String input = methodInput(); //1. is there any other way to make a global Scanner?
public static void main(String[] args){
System.out.println("Enter word");
System.out.println(input);
System.out.println("This word has" + methodCheck('a')); //2. what should i put in my parameters?
}
public static boolean methodCheck(char a){
return "AEIOUaeiou".indexOf(a) != -1; //3. what does this line do?
}
public static String methodInput(){
Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
String input = keyboard.nextLine();
return input;
//4. the output is 'hastrue' why is that?
//5. how can i make this program better?
}
}

If you don't know what a method does, then the solution is to go look at what it does. For example, the java documentation will tell you that
public int indexOf(int ch)
Returns the index within this string of the first occurrence of the specified character
In either case, if no such character occurs in this string, then -1 is returned.
How you're using it is not necessarily wrong, considering how the method returns -1 if the character wasn't found. But if you want to check how many vowels there are in a word that the user enters, it wouldn't be right to check whether the word they entered is in the string of vowels.

All the standard Java libraries, classes and methods have Javadoc that describes what they do.
All you need to do is look up the Javadoc and they describe it.
In this case the Javadoc is at: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/String.html#indexOf(int)
Your first step with any question like this should always be the documentation, then if that doesn't work try doing a web search looking for examples. For example 5 seconds on google putting in "java indexOf example" found me:
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/java/java_string_indexof.htm
Then if that doesn't work you can try asking the question here.

When you have the word boolean before the name of a method, that means that the method will return either the value true or the value false. And it's this true or false value that your program is printing out, on the same line as "This word has".
This particular method will return true if the character you pass to it is a vowel, or false otherwise. The method indexOf tells you which character of a String is the first one that is equal to the value that you pass in to the method. It returns 0 for the first character, 1 for the second character and so on. It returns -1 if none of the characters match. In this case, you're just checking whether the value returned by indexOf is or isn't -1 - in other words, whether the character is or isn't in the String "AEIOUaeiou".

indexOf(String str) Returns the index within this string of the first occurrence of the specified substring. If no such value of str exists, then -1 is returned.
For examples :
int num1 = "AEIOUaeiou".indexOf("a"); // it gives 5
int num2 = "AEIOUaeiou".indexOf("A"); // It gives 0
int num3 = "AEIOUaeiou".indexOf("z"); // It gives -1

1 Don't do that! Create a scanner in main, read input with it and then call your method(s).
2 How about countVowels(input)? You'd need to write an static int countVowels(String input) method.
3 Returns true since you pass in 'a'.
4 See number 3.
5 See number 2, and add a static boolean isVowel(char a).

Here is what the indexOf method does
string.indexOf(searchvalue,start)
Parameters
searchvalue : Required. The string to search for
start : Optional. Default 0. At which position to start the search
Return Value
Number : The position where the specified searchvalue occurs for the first time, or -1 if it never occurs
In simple terms, the index of method checks the first occurence of the value passed to it from the start position(if specified) and returns the position at which the value was first encountered in the string.
eg.
String s = "AEIOUaeiou";
s.indexOf("a"); //This would get a value of 5.
s.indexOf("v"); //This would get a value of -1, since it doesn't have the character v
To answer your questions,
You can directly declare the scanner as private and use it in the
entire program
`private static Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);`
you can write a method that receives the String input by the user
and then checks if the String contains any of the vowels. You can
use indexOf or contains methods to check for the each vowel using
the indexOf method.
Already described above.
A better way to do it would be as follows.
public class vowelCounter{
public static void main (String[] args) {
Scanner keyboard = new Scanner (System.in); // No need to declare it as global. You use it only once.
System.out.println ("Enter word : "); //Prompt the user to enter a word
String input = keyboard.nextLine (); //Fetch the word that the user enters into a String
System.out.println ("This word has" + countVowel (input)); // Pass the string to the method to check if it has vowels.
}
private static int countVowel (String a) {
int count = 0;
String s = a.toLowerCase (); // convert the string to lower case so that you only have to check for the lower case characters
// Here you would need to check the number of times each vowel exists in the String and incremenet the count everytime.
return count;
}
}