Develop Reference

Java beginner q - iterate ArrayList, select+remove items problem [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
ArrayList.remove is not working in a loop
(7 answers)
Closed 2 years ago.
I'm trying to remove even-length words from a String ArrayList, and it's almost working, except that for some reason one even-numbered word is getting through.
My code:
public ArrayList<String> removeEvenLength(ArrayList<String> a) {
for (int i = 0; i < a.size(); i++) {
String wordEntry = a.get(i);
if (wordEntry.length() % 2 == 0) {
a.remove(i);
}
}
return a;
I must be missing something, but I'm failing to determine what exactly. Pointers much appreciated.

The issue is that you are modifying the ArrayList while iterating over it, which changes its size. You need to decrease the index by one each time you remove an element since that index will now refer to the next element.
public static ArrayList < String > removeEvenLength(ArrayList < String > a) {
for (int i = 0; i < a.size(); i++) {
String wordEntry = a.get(i);
if (wordEntry.length() % 2 == 0) {
a.remove(i);
i--;
}
}
return a;
}
Looping backwards will also fix this problem, as elements will never be shifted to a position that you have yet to check.
public static ArrayList < String > removeEvenLength(ArrayList < String > a) {
for (int i = a.size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
String wordEntry = a.get(i);
if (wordEntry.length() % 2 == 0) {
a.remove(i);
}
}
return a;
}
You can also use List#removeIf with Java 8 and up to accomplish this easier.
public static ArrayList < String > removeEvenLength(ArrayList < String > a) {
a.removeIf(str -> str.length() % 2 == 0);//or str.length() & 1 == 0
return a;
}
You can use Stream#filter to construct a new List with the odd-length Strings without modifying the old one.
public static ArrayList < String > removeEvenLength(ArrayList < String > a) {
return a.stream().filter(str -> str.length() % 2 == 1).collect(Collectors.toCollection(ArrayList::new));
}

Your code is working fine but as you will delete any element from a particular index then the list index will change means the immediate element after the removed element will be updated to removed element.
You can modify your code to below code:
public ArrayList<String> removeEvenLength(ArrayList<String> a) {
for (int i = 0; i < a.size(); i++) {
String wordEntry = a.get(i);
if (wordEntry.length() % 2 == 0) {
a.remove(i);
i-=1;
}
}
return a;
}

The issue here is that when you do a.remove(i);, the ArrayList automatically updates its indices, so you end up skipping a value. Here's an example of how this could happen:
You get the 1st element (a.get(0);)
You find that it is an even length string (wordEntry.length() % 2 == 0)
You remove it (a.remove(i);)
Your for loop advances to the next value (now i = 1)
You get what is now the 2nd element (a.get(1);), but because you removed what was the 1st element, this is now what used to be the 3rd element.
In this scenario, you skipped over that 2nd element, which is why some strings are slipping through unnoticed. This is where I would suggest using the enhanced for loop, which simplifies things significantly so you don't need to worry about what index you are on. It would look something like this:
public ArrayList<String> removeEvenLength(ArrayList<String> a) {
for (String wordEntry : a) {
if (wordEntry.length() % 2 == 0) {
a.remove(wordEntry);
}
}
return a;
}
Alternatively, if you want to go for an even simpler one-liner, ArrayList offers some very convenient methods for manipulating ArrayLists. One such method, called removeIf(), pretty much does exactly what you want, but I think it's good to learn to properly use for loops before going on to use built-in methods like this. That said, if you wanted to go that route, here's how I would do it:
public ArrayList<String> removeEvenLength(ArrayList<String> a) {
a.removeIf((wordEntry) -> wordEntry.length() % 2 == 0);
return a;
}
Also, I just felt that I should note that there are other ways of finding even numbers. You can also use (wordEntry.length() & 1) == 0. There's no real difference as far as performance or anything, it's really just personal preference, but I just felt I should mention another way of doing it :)

Your method gets out of sync with the elements when removing from front to back. So remove them in reverse order.
ArrayList<String> words = new ArrayList<>(List.of("abc", "efgh", "o", "pq", "rs"));
words = removeEvenLength(words);
System.out.println(words);
public static ArrayList<String> removeEvenLength(ArrayList<String> a) {
for (int i = a.size()-1; i >= 0; i--) {
String wordEntry = a.get(i);
if (wordEntry.length() % 2 == 0) {
a.remove(i);
}
}
return a;
}
And as stated you can also use removeIf()
Explanation.
As you move forward, removing elements, your index is still incrementing normally to get to the next element. But the list has changed by removing previous elements so the index may skip over elements that need to be checked.
Assume you want to remove even elements.
consider a = [5,20,40], index = 1
remove a[index++]; the list is now [5,40] and index = 2. 40 will not be checked because the list is now of size 2 and the iteration will cease.
By removing them in reverse, the decrease in the length of the list does not impact the index.
again consider a = [5,20,40], index = 2
remove a[index--]; the list is now [5,20] and index = 1. 20 will be checked and removed. Index will then be 0 and one element will remain.
This behavior can be mitigated by adjusting the index when removing items. However, by removing in reverse order, no such adjustment is required.

Remove while iterating makes the problem. You can use removeIf for this
a.removeIf(wordEntry -> (wordEntry.length() % 2 == 0));
or use ListIterator to iterate the arraylist
ListIterator<String> iter = a.listIterator();
while(iter.hasNext()){
if(iter.next().length() % 2 == 0){
iter.remove();
}
}

Java wordsearch method, searching given 2d array

I am trying to pass a word to my findWord method which checks a 2d array of stype String[][] "a" for said word. Row and column are the dimensions of "a". I am not checking diagonal or reverse, only forwards. I believe that nearly if not all of my logic is correct, but I think I'm getting a bounds error. No error is being thrown, but the code just isn't working properly by returning false in random cases that it should return true. Code compiles and runs fine. (i.e it checking past the amount of columns that exist).
public boolean findWord(String word) {
int cL = column;
for(int i = 0; i < row; i++) {
for(int j = 0; j < column; j++) {
if(a[i][j].equals(word.substring(0,1))) {
int c = 1;
int parameter = j + word.length();
if(parameter <= cL) {
for(int k = j; k < parameter; k++) {
if(!a[i][k].equals(word.substring(c,c+1)))
return false;
c++;
}
return true;
}
} else {
return false;
}
}
}
return true;
}

I have run a few test cases. I have not yet found a case where your method returns true despite the word being in the array.
The flaws I have seen in your code are:
You start looking in a[0][0]. If the string found here isn’t equal to the first letter of your word, you immediately return false without looking any further.
Say that the first letter of the word does match a[0][0]. Now you set c to 1, but since i and k are 0, you now compare the second letter of the word to a[0][0]. That is unlikely to match. It only does of the word begins with the same letter twice.
Finally, I did manage to get a StringIndexOutOfBoundsException, namely by searching for aa in a row containing a, b, c. Second time through the innermost loop c is 2, and you therefore try to take out the substring between indices 2 and 3 of a word that has length 2.
You’ve got some fixing to do. Enjoy your work.

A Sorted Integer List

So the original code is
// An (unsorted) integer list class with a method to add an
// integer to the list and a toString method that returns the contents
// of the list with indices.
//
// ****************************************************************
public class IntList {
private int[] list;
private int numElements = 0;
//-------------------------------------------------------------
// Constructor -- creates an integer list of a given size.
//-------------------------------------------------------------
public IntList(int size) {
list = new int[size];
}
//------------------------------------------------------------
// Adds an integer to the list. If the list is full,
// prints a message and does nothing.
//------------------------------------------------------------
public void add(int value) {
if (numElements == list.length) {
System.out.println("Can't add, list is full");
} else {
list[numElements] = value;
numElements++;
}
}
//-------------------------------------------------------------
// Returns a string containing the elements of the list with their
// indices.
//-------------------------------------------------------------
public String toString() {
String returnString = "";
for (int i = 0; i < numElements; i++) {
returnString += i + ": " + list[i] + "\n";
}
return returnString;
}
}
and
// ***************************************************************
// ListTest.java
//
// A simple test program that creates an IntList, puts some
// ints in it, and prints the list.
//
// ***************************************************************
import java.util.Scanner ;
public class ListTest {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);
IntList myList = new IntList(10);
int count = 0;
int num;
while (count < 10) {
System.out.println("Please enter a number, enter 0 to quit:");
num = scan.nextInt();
if (num != 0) {
myList.add(num);
count++;
} else {
break;
}
}
System.out.println(myList);
}
}
I need to change the add method to sort from lowest to highest. This is what I tried doing.
// An (unsorted) integer list class with a method to add an
// integer to the list and a toString method that returns the contents
// of the list with indices.
//
// ****************************************************************
public class IntList {
private int[] list;
private int numElements = 0;
//-------------------------------------------------------------
// Constructor -- creates an integer list of a given size.
//-------------------------------------------------------------
public IntList(int size) {
list = new int[size];
}
//------------------------------------------------------------
// Adds an integer to the list. If the list is full,
// prints a message and does nothing.
//------------------------------------------------------------
public void add(int value) {
if (numElements == list.length) {
System.out.println("Can't add, list is full");
} else {
list[numElements] = value;
numElements++;
for (int i = 0; i < list.length; i++) {
if (list[i] > value) {
for (int j = list.length - 1; j > i; j--) {
list[j] = list[j - 1];
list[i] = value;
break;
}
}
}
for (in i = 0; i < list.length; i++) {
}
}
}
//-------------------------------------------------------------
// Returns a string containing the elements of the list with their
// indices.
//-------------------------------------------------------------
public String toString() {
String returnString = "";
for (int i = 0; i < numElements; i++) {
returnString += i + ": " + list[i] + "\n";
}
return returnString;
}
}
The outcome is very wrong. Any one able to steer me in the right direction? I can sort of see why what I have doesn't work, but I can't see enough to fix it.
So I realize I was not very descriptive here the first time. With the exception of the add method modifications the code was not my doing. My assignment is to only touch the add method to sort the array to print out smallest to largest. This is a beginners class and we do little to no practice my only tools for this are some basic understandings of loops and arrays.
I tried redoing it again and came up with this:
if(list[numElements-1] > value){
for(int i=0; i<numElements; i++){
if(list[i]>value){
for(int j = numElements; j>i; j-- ){
list[j] = list[j-1];
}
list[i] = value;
break;
}
}
numElements++;
}
else
{
list[numElements] = value;
numElements++;
}
my input was:8,6,5,4,3,7,1,2,9,10
the output was: 1,10,1,9,10,1,1,2,9,10
this thing is kicking my butt. I understand I want to check the input number to the array and move all numbers higher than it up one space and enter it behind those so it is sorted on entry, but doing so is proving difficult for me. I apologize if my code on here is hard to follow formatting is a little odd on here for me and time only allows for me to do my best. I think break is not breaking the for loop with i like i thought it would. Maybe that is the problem.

The biggest bug I see is using list.length in your for loop,
for(int i = 0; i <list.length; i++)
you have numElements. Also, I think it's i that needs to stop one before like,
for(int i = 0; i < numElements - 1; i++)
and then
for (int j = numElements; j > i; j--)

There are two lines that have to be moved out of the inner loop:
for (int i = 0; i < list.length; i++) {
if (list[i] > value) {
for (int j = list.length - 1; j > i; j--) {
list[j] = list[j - 1];
// list[i] = value;
// break;
}
list[i] = value;
break:
}
}
In particular, the inner break means that the loop that is supposed to move all larger elements away to make room for the new value only runs once.

You might want to include Java.util.Arrays which has its own sort function:
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/java/util/arrays_sort_int.htm
Then you can do:
public void add(int value) {
if (numElements == list.length) {
System.out.println("Can't add, list is full");
}
else {
list[numElements] = value;
numElements++;
Arrays.sort(list);
//Or: Java.util.Arrays.sort(list);
}
}

As Eliott remarked, you are getting confused between list.length (the capacity of your list) and numElements (the current size of your list). Also, though, you do not need to completely sort the list on each addition if you simply make sure to insert each new element into the correct position in the first place. You can rely on the rest of the list already to be sorted. Here's a simple and fast way to do that:
public void add(int value) {
if (numElements == list.length) {
System.out.println("Can't add, list is full");
} else {
int insertionPoint = Arrays.binarySearch(list, 0, numElements);
if (insertionPoint < 0) {
insertionPoint = -(insertionPoint + 1);
}
System.arrayCopy(list, insertionPoint, list, insertionPoint + 1,
numElements - insertionPoint);
list[insertionPoint] = value;
numElements += 1;
}
}
That will perform better (though you may not care for this assignment), and it is much easier to see what's going on, at least for me.

Here are some hints.
First, numElements indicates how many elements are currently in the list. It's best if you change it only after you have finished adding your item, like the original method did. Otherwise it may confuse you into thinking you have more elements than you really do at the moment.
There is really no need for a nested loop to do proper adding. The logic you should be following is this:
I know everything already in the list is sorted.
If my number is bigger then the biggest number (which is the one indexed by numElements-1, because the list is sorted) then I can just add my number to the next available cell in the array (indexed by numElements) and then update numElements and I'm done.
If not, I need to start from the last element in the array (careful, don't look at the length of the array. The last element is indexed by numElements-1!), going down, and move each number one cell to the right. When I hit a cell that's lower than my number, I stop.
Moving all the high numbers one cell to the right caused one cell to become "empty". This is where I'm going to put my number. Update numElements, and done.
Suppose you want to add the number 7 to this array:
┌─┬──┬──┬─┬─┐
│3│14│92│-│-│
└─┴──┴──┴─┴─┘
⬆︎ Last element
You move everything starting from the last element (92) to the right. You stop at the 3 because it's not bigger than 7.
┌─┬─┬──┬──┬─┐
│3│-│14│92│-│
└─┴─┴──┴──┴─┘
(The second element will probably still contain 14, but you're going to change that in the next step so it doesn't matter. I just put a - there to indicate it's now free for you to enter your number)
┌─┬─┬──┬──┬─┐
│3│7│14│92│-│
└─┴─┴──┴──┴─┘
⬆︎ Updated last element
This requires just one loop, without nesting. Be careful and remember that the array starts from 0, so you have to make sure not to get an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException if your number happens to be lower than the lowest one.

One problem I spotted is that: you are trying to insert the newly added number into the array. However your loop:
for (int i = 0; i < list.length; i++) {
if (list[i] > value) {
for (int j = list.length - 1; j > i; j--) {
list[j] = list[j - 1];
list[i] = value;
break;
}
}
}
is always looped through the total length of the array, which is always 10 in your test, rather than the actual length of the array, i.e. how many numbers are actually in the array.
For example, when you add the first element, it still loops through all 10 elements of the array, although the last 9 slots does not have value and are automatically assigned zero.
This caused your if statement always returns true:
if (list[i] > value)
if you have to write the sort algorithm yourself, use one of the commonly used sorting algorithm, which can be found in Wikipedia.

If any one was curious I finally worked it out. Thank you to everyone who replied. This is what i ended up with.
public void add(int value)
{
if(numElements == 0){
list[numElements] = value;
numElements++;
}
else{
list[numElements] = value;
for(int check = 0; check < numElements; check++){
if(list[check] > value){
for(int swap = numElements; swap> check; swap--){
list[swap] = list[swap-1];
}
list[check] = value;
break;
}
}
numElements++;
}
}

so my original is the same but we have to make another class
A Sorted Integer List
File IntList.java contains code for an integer list class. Save it to your project and study it; notice that the only things you can do are create a list of a fixed size and add an element to a list. If the list is already full, a message will be printed. File ListTest.java contains code for a class that creates an IntList, puts some values in it, and prints it. Save this to your folder and compile and run it to see how it works.
Now write a class SortedIntList that extends IntList. SortedIntList should be just like IntList except that its elements should always be in sorted order from smallest to largest. This means that when an element is inserted into a SortedIntList it should be put into its sorted place, not just at the end of the array. To do this you’ll need to do two things when you add a new element:
Walk down the array until you find the place where the new element should go. Since the list is already sorted you can just keep looking at elements until you find one that is at least as big as the one to be inserted.
Move down every element that will go after the new element, that is, everything from the one you stop on to the end. This creates a slot in which you can put the new element. Be careful about the order in which you move them or you’ll overwrite your data!
Now you can insert the new element in the location you originally stopped on.
All of this will go into your add method, which will override the add method for the IntList class. (Be sure to also check to see if you need to expand the array, just as in the IntList add() method.) What other methods, if any, do you need to override?
To test your class, modify ListTest.java so that after it creates and prints the IntList, it creates and prints a SortedIntList containing the same elements (inserted in the same order). When the list is printed, they should come out in sorted order.

Building a bag class in Java

I'm in dire need of help with this project. I'm trying to implement a Bag class for a programming assignment, and I'm getting hung up on the addAll(), Union(), and equals(), methods.
Edit: According to the assignment, addAll() is supposed to add all of the the objects from the second array into the first. I'm no longer getting an error when I run it, but for some reason it will not add all of the elements from the second array, it will only add the first 2. Thanks guys, this one is working perfectly now!
Edit: For Union(), I'm supposed to create a third bag that will contain all the contents of the first 2 bags. I was getting an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException when running this method. I've updated the code following biddulph.r and it's also working great. Thanks again!
Edit: "First attempt" And for equals(), it's supposed to check the size of the bags to make sure they are equal in size, then check to see if they contain the same numbers. So as it's written now, my equals() method will compare sizes and return the boolean value for that, but I'm unsure of how to make it compare the actual values.
import java.util.Arrays;
import javax.swing.*;
public class bag {
int maxSize = 10; //Size of the arrays
int count = 0; //Number of items stored in the array
int[] a;
int[] b;
bag c;
bag d;
public bag() {
//for(int i = 0; i < maxSize; i++){
//a[i] = (int)(1+Math.random()*100);
//}
a = new int[maxSize];
}
public String bagString() {
return Arrays.toString(a);
}
public void add(int b) {
try {
a[count] = b;
count++;
} catch (ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException n) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Array is full, element will not be added");
}
}
public void removeRandom() {
int i = (int)(1 + Math.random() * (count - 1));
a[i] = a[count - 1];
a[count - 1] = 0;
count--;
}
public void remove(int b) {
for (int i = 0; i < maxSize; i++) {
if (contains(b)) {
a[i] = a[count - 1];
}
}
}
public boolean isEmpty() {
if (count == 0) return true;
else return false;
}
public boolean contains(int b) {
int tf = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < maxSize; i++) {
if (a[i] == b) tf = 1;
}
if (tf == 1) return true;
else return false;
}
public int size() {
return count;
}
public void addAll(bag c, bag d) {
if (a.length >= c.size() + d.size()) {
for (int i = 0; c.size() <= d.size(); i++) {
c.add(d.a[i]);
}
}
}
public void union(bag c, bag d) {
bag bigger = new bag();
for (int i = 0; i < c.size(); i++) {
bigger.add(c.a[i]);
}
for (int i = 0; count < d.size() - 1; i++) {
bigger.add(d.a[i]);
}
System.out.println(bigger.bagString());
}
public boolean equals(bag c, bag d){
if(c.size() != d.size()){
return false;
}else{
for(int i = 0; i < c.union(c, d).size(); i++){
if(c.union(c, d).contains(c.a[i]) && c.union(c, d).contains(d.a[i])){
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
}
}
I really appreciate any help you guys can give me, thanks.
EDIT: Thanks to everyone for your help, you guys are life savers.

Your problem for addAll() is here
if (a.length >= c.size() + d.size()) {
for (int i = 0; c.size() <= d.size(); i++) {
c.add(d.a[i]);
}
}
You shouldn't be adding elements until your c bag becomes bigger than d, you should be adding all of d's elements to c.
for (int i = 0; i < d.size(); i++) {
c.add(d.a[i]);
}

So the part of the assignment you are having issue with is:
public void addAll(bag c, bag d){
if (a.length >= c.size() + d.size()) {
for (int i = 0; c.size() <= d.size(); i++) {
c.add(d.a[i]);
}
}
}
which you say is supposed to add all of the the objects from the second array into the first.
If you break that down and apply it to your addAll() method, it sounds like you are supposed to be adding all of the items in bag "d" into bag "c".
Your for loop is saying start i at 0, and add 1 to it until the size of c is less than or equal to d.
What it should be saying is start i at 0, and add 1 to it until you have gone through every item in d.
That would look like this:
for (int i = 0; i < d.size(); i++){
c.add(d.a[i]);
}
i is increased every time you go through the for loop, and i will stop increasing when you have got to the size of d (the second condition). At this point you will exit the for loop. You don't have to worry about the size of c.
In fact you can probably get rid of the if (a.length >= c.size() + d.size()) line as well.
I hope my explanation helps you understand why the changes have been made to the method.

I think you have a lot of problems with the design of the class that you should address first. If you are representing the bag as a static or dynamic array then you only need one array, not 2. You also don't need two bags inside each bag as attributes, that doesn't make any sense; all you should have left is the size of the bag or count and the array to hold all the elements (which are integers in your case). Also, avoid naming parameters for functions and attributes for the class the same way. Not doing so might confuse the compiler and will require code like self.attributeName to use attributes; otherwise, the compiler assumes you're talking about the parameter.
If you make these changes, the rest should be straight-forward from here. Since it's an assignment, you should make these changes and try again because you won't learn if we provide the answers for you; you'll see it will be much easier once you structure it correctly.
P.S. it's a convention to start a class name with a capital letter. Bag and not bag

addAll
There's a couple of problems with this function as written. First is that it's confusing to the caller. The code using this method would be something like this:
Bag bag1 = ...
Bag bag2 = ...
Bag bag3 = ...
bag1.addAll(bag2, bag3)
...or perhaps bag2.addAll(bag2, bag3). The function is intended to add elements from one bag in to another bag, so why does the caller have to specify three different bags? There's only two involved. You should either make the function static, so it can be called like Bag.addAll(bag1, bag2) or (better) make it totally clear who's getting elements added by making it take a single argument bag1.addAll(bag2).
Second problem is that the function isn't implemented correctly, but I think that's because you're getting confused because you've got three bags involved instead of two. To sketch out how it should be fixed:
Bag target = ...
Bag source = ...
if (target.a.length >= target.size() + source.size()) {
for (int i = 0; i < source.a.length; i++) {
target.add(source.a[i]);
}
}
Good variable naming is your friend.
union
You haven't specified what problem you're having with your implementation, so I'm not going to simply rewrite it for you. Edit your question with the problem, and I'll help.
However, this is an excellent example of a method that should be static (a Factory method, in fact). It should be able ot be called like: Bag biggerBag = Bag.union(bag1, bag2).
EDIT after his comment regarding the .union problem
The problem with .union is that you're looping through each bag using some else's size. It boils down to, if you want add each element from source in to target, you should be only counting elements from source, as so:
bag bigger = new bag();
for (int i = 0; i <= c.size(); i++) {
bigger.add(c.a[i]);
}
note that your method does not protect against the bigger bag not being big enough. You should have a check to make sure that it is BEFORE the loops, or even better just create a big enough bag.
equals
Again, you need to show that you've tried to write it, and then ask a question specifying what you need help with. Update your question and I'll help.

Your method:
public void addAll(bag c, bag d) {
if (a.length >= c.size() + d.size()) {
for (int i = 0; c.size() <= d.size(); i++) {
c.add(d.a[i]);
}
}
}
betrays your lack of understanding of Object Oriented programming.
Remember that the method addAll() is already acting on a bag, and so you should not need to specify 2 bags in the arguments.
Calling example:
mybag.addAll(yourBag);
would demonstrate a possible usage - it would add all contents of yourBag into myBag.
I'll give you this method for free (assuming that the array 'a' contains the contents of the bag - something I'm not sure about because your variable names aren't clear):
public void addAll(Bag otherBag) {
for (int i : otherBag.a) {
add(i);
}
}
The above method will copy all contents of otherBag into this bag.
Another thing I noticed - you also have a b[] instance variable - what's that for?
You also have 2 other bag instance variables. Not sure why.

Allow indexOf to check for match multiple times in Java

I'm currently working on a project for a class to create a TextLine class that represents the a line of text that must be represented as an array of characters. I am not allowed to represent the TextLine object by using the string class indirectly or directly in any way, however, I can use it to work with the parameters.
For one of the methods, I am supposed to take in a string as an argument of a parameter, which is also a fragment to the TextLine object, and then return the index position of the first occurrence of the fragment in this TextLine, or -1, if the fragment is not found.
Right now, I'm trying to figure out the indexOf method, but my problem is that my method only checks for a starting point once. So if the letter of the TextLine object doesn't match the letter of the fragment the first time, but there is another match somewhere else in the object, the method doesn't check for that starting point.
For example, lets say I enter penplay as the TextLine, then I enter play as the fragment. Clearly, there is an occurrence of play in the TextLine, but what my indexOf method does, is that it checks the first p from penplay at index 0, then continues to see if the following letters match for the length of play, and if it doesn't, it returns -1. Any idea how I could allow the algorithm to keep searching for another starting point?
This is what I have for my code:
public int indexOf(String fragment){
char[] temp = fragment.toCharArray();
int j = 0;
for(int i = 0; i < someText.length; i++){
while(someText[i] == temp[j]){
for(j = 1; j < temp.length; j++){
if(temp[j] != someText[i+j]){
return -1;
}
}
return i;
}
}
return -1;
}

You're special-casing the first character, when there's no need to. Basically you need to say:
For each potential starting character...
Does the whole of fragment match, starting at that candidate position?
So something like:
// Only deal with *viable* starting points
for (int i = 0; i < someText.length - temp.length; i++) {
boolean found = true;
for (int j = 0; j < temp.length && found; j++) {
if (temp[j] != someText[i + j]) {
found = false;
}
}
if (found) {
return i;
}
}
return -1;
This can be refactored by extracting the inner loop:
for (int i = 0; i < someText.length - temp.length; i++) {
if (textMatches(temp, i)) {
return i;
}
}
return -1;
...
// TODO: Javadoc to explain parameters :)
private boolean textMatches(char[] chars, int startingIndex) {
for (int i = 0; i < chars.length; i++) {
if (chars[i] != someText[i + startingIndex]) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}

The way you have it set up seems suitable as a kind of doesStringExistAtIndex(j, fragment) function. Since that returns -1 if the string doesn't exist at the first index, you could do something like this:
//assuming that "this" is the subject that you are searching in
public int indexOf(String fragment){
for(int i=0; i<this.length; ++i){
if(doesStringExistAtIndex(i, fragment))
return i;
}
return -1;
}

Not sure if this is what you wanted, but I basically wrote up an indexOf method. I did some testing and it seemed to work just fine in some tests I did. Of course, its going to look different because I wanted to make testing easier, but it should be 30 seconds or less of converting if you decide to use it.
public int indexOf(String fragment, String source)
{
char[] temp = fragment.toCharArray();
char[] someText = source.toCharArray();
outer : for(int i = 0; i <= someText.length - temp.length;i++) //stops looping because why loop after the fragment is longer than the source we have left when its impossible to find
{
if(someText[i] == temp[0]) //if the first characters are the same
{
int q = 0;
while(q < temp.length) //loop through the fragment
{
if(someText[i+q] != temp[q]) //if the characters are not the same, stop, and go to the next character of the source. Don't return anything
{
continue outer; //continues the loop labeled 'outer' (e.g. outer : for(...) )
}
q++; //increment index since they both match
}
return i; //fragment and some part of the source matched since it reached here. Return the index of the first character
}
}
return -1; //reached here because nothing was found :( return -1
}
EDIT 0 Added line comments