Thread: Simple hangman game error

I havent programmed in java for a few months now, been learning some other languages, but i start school in the fall for java so i thought i would fresh'n up abit. Tried to make a simple java game of hangman but its not working. Here is the code:

import java.util.Random;
import java.util.Scanner;
 
 
public class Hangman {
 
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		// TODO Auto-generated method stub
		String[] words = {"donkey", "moose", "horn", "nicole", "connor", "taco", "meenu", "brad", "fridge", "dust"};
		Random rand = new Random();
		Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);
 
		///start of play again
		int wordN = rand.nextInt(words.length);
		String word = words[wordN];
		char[] letters = new char [word.length()];
		int strikes = 8;
		String[] characters = {"_ ", "_ ","_ ","_ ","_ ","_ ","_ "};
		boolean won = false;
		//printing word length
		for (int i = 0; i<=word.length(); i++){
			System.out.print(characters[i]);
		}
		//getting each letter
		for (int a=0; a<=word.length(); a++){
			letters[a] = word.charAt(a);
		}
		do{
			System.out.print("Guess a letter: ");
			String guess = scan.next();
			char cGuess = guess.charAt(0);
				for (int b = 0; b<= word.length(); b++){
				int iLetters = word.length();
					if (cGuess == letters[b] && b<iLetters){
						characters[b] = cGuess+" ";
					}if (cGuess != letters[b] && b==iLetters){
						strikes--;
						System.out.println("The letter "+cGuess+" is not in this word. You have "+strikes+" trys left.");
					}
				}
				for (int i = 0; i<=word.length(); i++){
					System.out.print(characters[i]);
				}
			if (guess.equals(word)){
				won = true;
			}
		}while(won != true);
	}
 
}

now here is the error:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException: String index out of range: 4
	at java.lang.String.charAt(Unknown Source)
	at Hangman.main(Hangman.java:26)

any help would be lovely, thanks

This is the mistake:

for (int i = 0; i<=word.length(); i++){

I know you know better.

Originally Posted by GregBrannon

This is the mistake:

for (int i = 0; i<=word.length(); i++){

I know you know better.

I dont see how that is the mistake( I commented that out to try and still get same error). Also the error is pointing at this:

letters[a] = word.charAt(a);

yet i see no issue with that either

Java arrays are zero-based. An array that holds 10 elements has indices 0 - 9. The same array has length 10. The error is the '<=' sign. If this is news to you, review Java arrays.

Nope i remember that just has been awhile since java, thank you for refreshing my memory

You're welcome, but I don't think there's anything wrong with your memory. If my summary of Java array characteristics is not something you just know, even with an absence of a few months, then there's a problem with either the depth or breatdth of your Java experience, probably both. Review the basics to greater depth, including practicing with lots of code to really learn what you read about.

This will also improve your debugging skills which are weak since you would comment out a for loop definition or not see the relationship between the loop control variable and the statements in the loop's body. Spend more time with for, while, and do/while loops.