Checking to see if a string is a palindrome or not - java

I am very close to finishing my one practice problem that deals with a palindrome and a string parameter and I am stuck with the main method to call the method. Every time I compile my code it compiles, but then when I go to input data, it keeps on running and does not give me a result. Can anyone aid in me in what I need to do to get it to return the result? The problem just asks to create a method that checks if it is a palindrome, my main method to test it is what is giving me trouble.
This is my code:
import java.util.*;
public class TestisPalindrome
{
public static boolean isPalindrome(String str) {
int left = 0;
int right = str.length() -1;
while(left < right) {
if(str.charAt(left) != str.charAt(right)) {
return false;
}
}
left ++;
right --;
return true;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.println("Enter a string to see if it is a palindrome or not: ");
String st1 = scan.nextLine();
System.out.println(isPalindrome(st1));
}
}

right & left increment should be in while loop
while(left < right)
{
if(str.charAt(left) != str.charAt(right))
{
return false;
}
left ++;
right --;
}

You've created an infinite loop. You have a while loop, but never change the conditions.
while(left < right)
{
if(str.charAt(left) != str.charAt(right))
{
return false;
}
}
Assuming left < right when you start, this will never change.
You have lines to increment left and right, but your code will never reach those lines, since it never gets out of the while loop.

You are overthinking this. Look at StringBuffer:
StringBuffer input = new StringBuffer(str);
return str.equals(input.reverse()).toString);
Please note that there is a performance impact of your implementation:
while(left < right) { //multiply inner operations by n/2
if(str.charAt(left) != str.charAt(right)) { //three operations
return false;
}
//This need to be inside your while loop
left ++; //one operation
right --; //one operation
}
This leads to an O(n) = (n * 5) / 2. On the other hand, if you simply reverse a string, it's only O(n) = n in the worst case. This is not a significant impact, but can add up depending on how you're accessing this.

You can also solve it like this:
public static boolean isPalindrome (String str){
String convertedStr = "";
for (int i = 0; i <str.length(); i++){
if (Character.isLetterOrDigit(str.charAt(i)))
convertedStr += Character.toLowerCase(str.charAt(i));
}
if (convertedStr.equals(reverseString(convertedStr)))
return true;
else
return false;
} //End of isPalindrome

Here is the code I used to determine whether a string is Palindrome String or not:
private static boolean isPalindromeString(String str){
if (str == null)
return false;
int len = str.length();
for (int i=0; i<len/2 ; i++){
if (str.charAt(i) != str.charAt(len - i - 1)){
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
I hope this can help you.

Related

Palindrome tester

So I have the majority of the code written and it works. Except for the iterative method keeps showing that it is not a palindrome regardless of what is typed in. I am at a loss as to how to remedy it here is the code.
//David Crouse Assignment 2
import java.util.Scanner;
public class Assignment2 {
public static boolean loop = false;
//main
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.println("Welcome to the Palindrome Checker!");
do{
System.out.print("Enter a string to check if it is a palindrome. ");
System.out.print("Enter x to exit.");
String word = input.nextLine();
word = word.replaceAll("\\s","");
word = word.toLowerCase();
//Exit Program
if(word.equalsIgnoreCase("x")){
System.out.println("End of program. Good Bye!");
System.exit(0);
}
if(iterativePalindromeChecker(word)){
System.out.println("Iterative Result: Palindrome!");
}else{
System.out.println("Iterative Result: Not a palindrome");
}
if(recursivePalindromeChecker(word)){
System.out.println("Recursive Result: Palindrome!\n");
}else{
System.out.println("Recursive Result: Not a palindrome\n");
}
loop = true;
}while (loop == true);
}
//Iterative Method
public static boolean iterativePalindromeChecker(String str){
boolean result = false;
int length = str.length();
int i, begin, end, middle;
begin = 0;
end = length - 1;
middle = (begin + end)/2;
for (i = begin; i <= middle; i++) {
if (str.charAt(begin) == str.charAt(end)) {
begin++;
end--;
}
else {
break;
}
}
if (i == middle + 1) {
result = false;
}
return result;
}
//Recusive Methods
public static boolean recursivePalindromeChecker(String str){
if(str.length() == 0 || str.length() == 1)
return true;
if(str.charAt(0) == str.charAt(str.length()-1))
return recursivePalindromeChecker(str.substring(1,str.length()-1));
return false;
}
}
Your iterative method never sets result to be true. Here's a modified version:
public static boolean iterativePalindromeChecker(String str){
int length = str.length();
int i, begin, end, middle;
begin = 0;
end = length - 1;
middle = (begin + end)/2;
for (i = begin; i <= middle; i++) {
if (str.charAt(begin) == str.charAt(end)) {
begin++;
end--;
}
else {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
Your iterative method does not set result = true anywhere, so it really can't help it. Although I think the iterative method could be better overall. Take a close look at what is happening in the recursive one and see if you can implement some of it (like the guard conditions) more closely in the iterative method, and keep in mind that you are not limited to a single index value in a for loop either. e.g.:
public static boolean iterativePalindromeChecker(String str) {
for(int start = 0, end = str.length() - 1; start < end; start++, end--) {
if(str.charAt(start) != str.charAt(end)) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
I'm guessing someone once told you that a function should only have one return point, and trying to follow that led you to using a mutable result variable which screwed you here. Using break poses the same ostensible problem anyway. Save yourself the headache and just return as soon as you know the answer.
public static boolean iterativePalindromeChecker(String str) {
int begin = 0;
int end = str.length() - 1;
while (begin < end) {
if (str.charAt(begin) != str.charAt(end)) {
return false;
}
begin++;
end--;
}
return true;
}

Comparing items in a stack

I am trying to compare two seperate stacks to see if they are the same or not. I have a loop iterate through each object in each stack and compare both objects. What I want to happen is if they are equal, continue the loop and return true. If they are not equal at any given point, break the loop and return false. This is what I have written:
public boolean isPalindrome (Stack a, Stack b) {
Object temp1;
Object temp2;
boolean answer;
for (int i = 0; a.size() > 0; i++) {
temp1 = a.pop();
temp2 = b.pop();
if (temp1 != temp2) {
answer = false;
}
else {
answer = true;
}
}
return answer;
}
What I see happening in this is that I have a boolean, and through each loop that boolean is assigned a value depending on what the objects are, then at the end of the loop, return that boolean in its most recent state. No matter what I initialize the variable to, its like the loop does absolutely nothing to it. Can you not modify or return a boolean in a loop? What would be the better way to go about this instance? I have looked at tons of other posts for similar issues, but most of them seem to be trying something a little different ad I would like to stick as true to my original ideas as possible, I just need to know what I am doing wrong. Any suggestions would help greatly. Thanks!
The basic idea that you can return false (which breaks method execution) once you find stacks are not equal. Otherwise return true:
public boolean isPalindrome (Stack a, Stack b) {
if (a.size() != b.size()) {
return false;
}
while (a.size() > 0) {
if (!a.pop().equals(b.pop())) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
public boolean isPalindrome (Stack a, Stack b) {
Object temp1;
Object temp2;
boolean answer = true;
for (int i = 0; a.size() > 0; i++) {
temp1 = a.pop();
temp2 = b.pop();
if (temp1 != temp2) {
answer = false;
break;
}
}
return answer;
}
You need to place a return statement when you find a false item -- else, you're simply returning the boolean found in the last iteration of your loop.
public boolean isPalindrome (Stack a, Stack b) {
Object temp1;
Object temp2;
boolean answer;
for (int i = 0; a.size() > 0; i++) {
temp1 = a.pop();
temp2 = b.pop();
if (temp1 != temp2) {
answer = false;
return answer;
}
else {
answer = true;
}
}
return answer;
}
My suggestion:
public boolean isPalindrome (Stack a, Stack b) {
if (a.size() != b.size()) return false;
while (a.size() > 0) {
if (a.pop() != b.pop()) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
You should put a break statement in just after answer is set to false. Without this, you are returning false only if the last items are not equal.
Quick note: I would also add a check for the case that the two stacks are not the same size.

Java recursion; how can I simplify what I have?

I have to write the following recursion method:
public static int countA(String s)
Yet I find it impossible to do this without declaring a counter and position variable; like so:
public static int countA(String s, int position) {
int count = 0;
if( s.charAt(position) == 'A' )
count++;
if( position + 1 < s.length() ) {
count += countA(s, position + 1);
}
return count;
}
How can I simplify my answer so that my method is the same as the one listed?
EDIT: Yes, I want to count all A's inside a string.
Try this:
public static int countA(String s) {
int count = 0;
if (s == null)
return 0;
if (s.length() == 0)
return 0;
if (s.charAt(0) == 'A')
count++;
return count + countA(s.substring(1));
}
There are two forms of recursion,
Tail Recursion : The return value is calculated as a combination of the value of current subroutine and the return value of the next call. Example,
int factorial(int a) {
if(a==0)
return 1;
else
return a * factorial( a-1 );
}
Accumulator based recursion : You accumulate the results by adding an additional parameter and return the accumulated value.
int factorial(int a, int fact) {
if(a==0)
return fact;
else
return factorial(a-1, a*fact);
}
Obviously what you have here is accumulator based, while you can improve it to Tail recursion.
Tail recursion is considered more readable, while it can cause a StackOverflow! (no pun intended). This is because it has to push the current value to a stack, before calling subroutine again. And when you make a large number of such calls, this stack might go over its limit.
Some compilers optimize tail recursion to accumulator based in order to avoid this problem.
What about:
public static int countA(String s) {
if(s==null) return 0;
if(s.length()==0) return 0;
if( s.charAt(0) == 'A' )
{
return 1 + countA(s.substring(1));
} else
{
return countA(s.substring(1));
}
}
I think something like this should do the trick
Here we are assuming that countA returns the number of As inside String s
public static int countA(String s)
{
if(s.length()==0) return 0; // return 0 if string is empty
else
{
// if the first char is A add 1 to the answer, recurse
if(s.toCharArray()[0])=='A') return 1+countA(s.subString(1,s.length()));
// else add nothing to the answer, recurse
else return countA(s.subString(1,s.length()));
}
}
You move the position variable out of the method and make it static(since your countA() is also static).
static int position = 0;
public static int countA(String s) {
int count = 0;
if( s.charAt(position) == 'A' )
count++;
if( position + 1 < s.length() ) {
position++;
count += countA(s);
}
return count;
}
Ideally you have the termination condition first, which then usually simplifies the code by reducing indentation/nesting and have a "do nothing" action for it (typically requiring one more iteration than absolutely required).
You also don't need the local variable!
public static int countA(String s, int position) {
if (position == s.length())
return 0;
return (s.charAt(position) == 'A' ? 1 : 0) + countA(s, position + 1);
}

Recursive Function : Check for palindrome in Java

I have a class that checks whether a string is a palindrome or not. I have two questions.
1) Is this the most efficient way to check for palindrome?
2) Can this be implemented recursively?
public class Words {
public static boolean isPalindrome(String word) {
String pal = null;
word = word.replace(" ", "");
pal = new StringBuffer(word).reverse().toString();
if (word.compareTo(pal) == 0) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
}
}
Have a test class to test this... Doubt its needed but here it is anyways if anyone cares to try it out to be able to help me with any of the two questions above...
public class testWords {
public static void main(String[] args) {
if (Words.isPalindrome("a") == true) {
System.out.println("true");
} else {
System.out.println("false");
}
if (Words.isPalindrome("cat") == true) {
System.out.println("true");
} else {
System.out.println("false");
}
if (Words.isPalindrome("w o w") == true) {
System.out.println("true");
} else {
System.out.println("false");
}
if (Words.isPalindrome(" a ") == true) {
System.out.println("true");
} else {
System.out.println("false");
}
if (Words.isPalindrome("mom!") == true) {
System.out.println("true");
} else {
System.out.println("false");
}
}
}
thanks in advance for any help and or input :)
To implement a 'palindrome check' recursively, you must compare if the first and last characters are the same. If they are not the same the string is most certainly not a palindrome. If they are the same the string might be a palindrome, you need to compare the 2nd character with the 2nd to last character, and so on until you have strictly less then 2 characters remaining to be checked in your string.
A recursive algorithm would look like this:
public static boolean isPalindrome(String word) {
//Strip out non-alphanumeric characters from string
String cleanWord = word.replaceAll("[^a-zA-Z0-9]","");
//Check for palindrome quality recursively
return checkPalindrome(cleanWord);
}
private static boolean checkPalindrome(String word) {
if(word.length() < 2) { return true; }
char first = word.charAt(0);
char last = word.charAt(word.length()-1);
if( first != last ) { return false; }
else { return checkPalindrome(word.substring(1,word.length()-1)); }
}
Note, that my recursion method is not most efficient approach, but
simple to understand
Marimuthu Madasamy has a more efficient recursive method, but is harder to understand
Joe F has listed an equivalently efficient iterative method
which is the best approach for implementation because it cannot cause a stack overflow error
Here is another recursive solution but using array which could give you some performance advantage over string in recursive calls (avoiding substring or charAt).
private static boolean isPalindrome(final char[] chars, final int from,
final int to) {
if (from > to) return true;
return chars[from] != chars[to] ? false
: isPalindrome(chars, from + 1, to - 1);
}
public static boolean isPalindrome(final String s) {
return isPalindrome(s.toCharArray(), 0, s.length() - 1);
}
The idea is that we keep track of two positions in the array, one at the beginning and another at the end and we keep moving the positions towards the center.
When the positions overlap and pass, we are done comparing all the characters and all the characters so far have matched; the string is palindrome.
At each pass, we compare the characters and if they don't match then the string is not palindrome otherwise move the positions closer.
It's actually sufficient to only check up to the middle character to confirm that it is a palindrome, which means you can simplify it down to something like this:
// Length of my string.
int length = myString.length();
// Loop over first half of string and match with opposite character.
for (int i = 0; i <= length / 2; i++) {
// If we find one that doesn't match then return false.
if (myString.charAt(i) != myString.charAt(length - 1 - i)) return false;
}
// They all match, so we have found a palindrome!
return true;
A recursive solution is very possible but it is not going to give you any performance benefit (and probably isn't as readable).
Can this be implemented Recursively?
YES
Here is example:
public static boolean palindrome(String str)
{
if (str.length()==1 || str.length == 0)
return true;
char c1 = str.charAt(0);
char c2 = str.charAt(str.length() - 1);
if (str.length() == 2)
{
if (c1 == c2)
return true;
else
return false;
}
if (c1 == c2)
return palindrome(str.substring(1,str.length() - 1));
else
return false;
}
My two cents. It's always nice to see the different ways people solve a problem. Of course this is not the most efficient algorithm memory or speed wise.
public static boolean isPalindrome(String s) {
if (s.length() <= 1) { // got to the middle, no need for more checks
return true;
}
char l = s.charAt(0); // first char
char r = s.charAt(s.length() - 1); // last char
if (l == r) { // same char? keep checking
String sub = s.substring(1, s.length() - 1);
return isPalindrome(sub);
}
return false;
}
The simplest way to check palindrome.
private static String palindromic(String word) {
if (word.length() <= 1) {
return "Polidramic";
}else if (word.charAt(0) != word.charAt(word.length() - 1)) {
return "Not Polidramic";
}
return palindromic(word.substring(1, word.length() - 1));
}

Testing parentheses in a equation using stack java

I'm writing a program that will take in an equation and check if all the parentheses line up and it will output if it is good or not.
For Ex: (3+4) is good
((3*8) is NOT Good
I'm not allowed to use java's built in push() pop() methods ext..
I have to make my own which I think I got....I think!
The problem I'm having is in the Test() method.
First I'm not sure how to write the while loop like:
while(there are still characters)
Anyway the output I'm getting is: stack is empty -1
Any help is appreciated. I'm one of the slower program learners and I couldn't be trying any harder. Thanks.
Here's what I got:
public class Stacked {
int top;
char stack[];
int maxLen;
public Stacked(int max) {
top = -1;
maxLen = max;
stack = new char[maxLen];
}
public void push(char item) {
top++;
stack[top] = item;
}
public int pop() {
//x = stack[top];
//top = top - 1;
top--;
return stack[top];
}
public boolean isStackEmpty() {
if(top == -1) {
System.out.println("Stack is empty" + top);
return true;
} else
return false;
}
public void reset() {
top = -1;
}
public void showStack() {
System.out.println(" ");
System.out.println("Stack Contents...");
for(int j = top; j > -1; j--){
System.out.println(stack[j]);
}
System.out.println(" ");
}
public void showStack0toTop() {
System.out.println(" ");
System.out.println("Stack Contents...");
for(int j=0; j>=top; j++){
System.out.println(stack[j]);
}
System.out.println(" ");
}
//}
public boolean test(String p ){
boolean balanced = false;
balanced = false;
//while ( )
for(char i = '('; i < p.length(); i++ ){
push('(');
}
for (char j = ')'; j < p.length(); j++){
pop();
}
if (isStackEmpty()) {
balanced = true;
//return balanced;
}
return balanced;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Stacked stacks = new Stacked(100);
String y = new String("(((1+2)*3)");
stacks.test(y);
//System.out.println(stacks.test(y));
}
}
Now I'm getting somewhere. I need to be pointed in the right direction again. Thanks everyone this helped big time. I still have a lot more to do but this is good for now. Eventually I need to create a two more methods: one "infix to postfix" and the other "evaluating postfix" and at the end I'll need to read in answers from a text file instead of putting my own into the main method. Thanks again much appreciated.
Unless you need to actually evaluate the equation, a stack is too complicated a solution here. You simply need a counter:
int openParentheses = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < p.length(); i++) {
if (p.charAt(i) == '(') {
openParentheses++;
} else if (p.charAt(i) == ')') {
openParentheses--;
}
//check if there are more closed than open
if (openParentheses < 0) {
return false;
}
}
if (openParentheses == 0) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
If you absolutely must use stacks, use this:
for (int i = 0; i < p.length(); i++) {
if (p.charAt(i) == '(') {
push('x'); //doesn't matter what character you push on to the stack
} else if (p.charAt(i) == ')') {
pop();
}
//check if there are more closed than open
if (stackIsEmpty()) {
return false;
}
}
if (isStackEmpty()) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
I agree with Griff except that you should include another check if you didn't have more closed parentheses than open. (x*y))( is not a valid entry.
int openParentheses = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < p.length(); i++) {
if (p.charAt(i) == '(') {
openParentheses++;
} else if (p.charAt(i) == ')') {
openParentheses--;
}
if(openParentheses<0)
return false;
}
if (openParentheses == 0) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
You may be required to use a stack, but this could be done with a simple counter. This will show you a how to iterate over the characters of a String:
boolean test(String p) {
int balance = 0;
for (int idx = 0; idx < p.length(); ++idx) {
char ch = p.charAt(idx);
if (ch == '(')
++balance;
else if (ch == ')')
--balance;
if (balance < 0)
return false;
}
return balance == 0;
}
Of course, you could replace the increment and decrement with pushes and pops, respectively, on a stack.
For parsing you can use a for loop over the index and address the character of the string at the certain index.
But you actually do not need a stack, an integer variable openBraces is sufficient:
initialize with 0
for '(' you increment the variable one
for ')' you decrement the variable one
if openBraces is <0, you immediately give an error
if at the end openBraces is not equal to 0, you give an error.
Since you should do your homework yourself, I did not post source code, only explanations ;)
I think you just need this --
for ( int i = 0 ; i < p.length(); i++ ) {
char c = p.charAt(i);
if ( c == '(' )
push('(');
else if ( c == ')' ) {
if ( isStackEmpty() ) {
// Return error here because of unbalanced close paranthesis
}
pop();
}
else {
// do nothing
}
}
You CAN use a stack if you must, but considering how simplistic this is, you just need a counter that you increment and decrement and check for 0 at the end.
If you do use a counter, you should check after every decrement if the value is less than 0. If so, throw an error.
Edited based on Ryan/Dave Ball's comments.
It could be done like this:
String equation = "(2+3))";
Integer counter = 0;
//while(equation)
for(int i=0; i<equation.length();i++)
{
if(equation.charAt(i)=='(')
{
counter++;
}
else
if(equation.charAt(i)==')')
{
counter--;
}
}
if(counter == 0)
{
System.out.println("Is good!!!");
}
else
{
System.out.println("Not good!!!");
}
}

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