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Java

Posted by Akhilesh Bhartiya
Akhilesh Bhartiya
Courses Plus Student 355 Points

I need help to replace '-' with the user entered alphabet and if its occurrence is more than one then how to deal with t

import java.util.*;

   public class Hangman

   {
       public static void main (String[] args)
   {
        Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);

        String wordToBeGuessed = "scratch";
        String wordGuessed = "-------";
        int count = 0;

         while (wordGuessed != wordToBeGuessed)
         {
            System.out.print("Guess a letter: ");
            char guessedLetter = (char) System.in.read();

           //String guessedLetter = keyboard.nextLine();

             int position = wordToBeGuessed.indexOf(guessedLetter);

             if (position == -1)
             {
                System.out.println("NOT FOUND :( ! TRY AGAIN ");
             }

              else
              {

                 System.out.println("Letter guessed: " +guessedLetter);
               //wordGuessed.charAt(position) = guessedLetter;
               //System.out.println(position);

                 wordGuessed.setCharAt(position, guessedLetter);

               //String before = wordGuessed.substring(0,position);
               //String after = wordGuessed.substring(position + 1);
               //String between = guessedLetter;

               //String newWord = before +between + after;

                 System.out.println("Display: " +wordGuessed);

              }


          }

      }
      }

letter guessed c display -c---c-

1 Answer

Philip Gales
Philip Gales
15,193 Points

Here is a quick way I might do it. Notice I have intentionally left out Exceptions and other advance concepts. I also used StringBuilder in case this was your homework so your teacher would know it's not your answer. Good luck!

import java.util.Scanner;

public class Hangman {

    static Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        String answer = "scratch";
        StringBuilder userAnswer = new StringBuilder("-------");
        String guess;

        while (!userAnswer.toString().equals(answer)) {

            //display blanks so user knows what they are looking for.
            System.out.println(userAnswer);

            //prompt user for a guess
            System.out.print("Guess a letter: ");

            //store user response into variable "guess"
            guess = scanner.nextLine();

            //convert guess to char
            char c = guess.charAt(0);

            //loop through each letter in answer and search for the char from user's guess
            for (int i = 0; i < answer.length(); i++) {

                //if the letter at position i matches the user's guess then replace the dash
                if (answer.charAt(i) == c) {
                    userAnswer.setCharAt(i, c);
                }//end if statement
            }//end for loop

        }//end while loop

        System.out.println("Congrats, you won!");

    }//end main
}
Akhilesh Bhartiya
Akhilesh Bhartiya
Courses Plus Student 355 Points

thank you for your help, you forgot to put error msg if someone types wrong char and the count but i have added it into my code and it works. can i ask you one thing how do you approach a problem like this i was stuck with it for one day. trying everything but didn't work out

Philip Gales
Philip Gales
15,193 Points

I always write down ideas on paper before I start coding. I will break it down into:

  1. Show user dashes and ask for a guess

  2. See if guess is in answer by going through each dash

  3. If the guess is in the answer then replace the dash with the letter

  4. Continue asking until all dashes are replaced

I then start deciding what variables I will need (String answer, String dashes, String or char guess) and what methods or classes(maybe a method to loop through the answer and see if the guess is in the answer, if so replace the dash at the correct index)

After all of this I finally start to program, and reexamine my plan if things aren't working. It sounds like a lot, but when you have large programs, you have to write everything down and plan it all out. My old professor used to say "You eat an elephant one bite at a time".

P.S. I intentionally left out a lot of code so you would have some left to do :)