Comparing Strings?

**wandertheverse** · February 4th, 2011, 05:14 AM

I'm in an introductory Java class (just started) so I'm pretty bad at it, any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.
I am having trouble comparing two string variables. I am using .equals() for the two variables "batteryOld" and "batteryCompareYes" .
Given that the user inputs "Yes" they should be considered equal and therefore the statement "true" right?
Problem is that instead of going into the if , it fails the condition and goes straight to the else where a system.out prints an error message....
Any way to fix this so that if both are Yes, it goes into the if loop setting the batteryPenalty variable to true?

Thanks for any help!

Here's a the excerpt from the program:

public static double computeChargeRate(int robotPosition){
		Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
 
		double robotWeight = 1;
		String batteryOld = "Null";
		String batteryCompareYes = "Yes";
		String batteryCompareNo= "No";
		boolean batteryPenalty = true;
		double chargeRate = 0;
 
		//ask the user the robot's weight (assume weight is measured in kg since not otherwise stated)
		System.out.print("What is the robot's weight in kg? ");
		robotWeight = input.nextDouble();
 
		//ask the user whether the robot's battery is old or not
		System.out.print("Is the robot's battery old? Please answer Yes or No. ");
		BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
		try {
         		batteryOld = br.readLine();
     	} 
     	catch (IOException ioe) {
         		System.exit(1);
      	}
 
		System.out.println(batteryOld);
 
		//preform check to see if the robots's battery is old
		if((batteryOld.equals(batteryCompareYes))){
			batteryPenalty = true;
		}
		if((batteryOld.equals(batteryCompareNo))){
			batteryPenalty = false;
		}
		else{
			System.out.println("The input for the robot's battery is not applicable- Error.");
			return 0;
		}

**JavaPF** · February 4th, 2011, 06:15 AM

Hello and welcome to the forums.

Why have you used a combination of the Scanner and BufferedReader? Just the Scanner will do the job..

You need to bare in mind the case of what is entered. If you enter yes it will not give the same result as if you enter Yes.

Also, try updating the code to this:

            //preform check to see if the robots's battery is old
            if((batteryOld.equals(batteryCompareYes))){
                batteryPenalty = true;
            }
            else if((batteryOld.equals(batteryCompareNo))){
                batteryPenalty = false;
            }
            else{
                System.out.println("The input for the robot's battery is not applicable- Error.");
                return 0;
            }

**KevinWorkman** · February 4th, 2011, 11:53 AM

Just to explain why JavaPF recommended you change this code:

//preform check to see if the robots's battery is old
        if((batteryOld.equals(batteryCompareYes))){
            batteryPenalty = true;
        }
        if((batteryOld.equals(batteryCompareNo))){
            batteryPenalty = false;
        }
        else{
            System.out.println("The input for the robot's battery is not applicable- Error.");
            return 0;
        }

Go through this in your head with batteryOld being equal to batteryCompareYes.

It will reach the first if statement, which evaluates to true, so it enters that block and sets batteryPenalty to true. It then reaches the next if statement (because it's a completely different if statement that it will reach regardless of how the first one evaluates), which evaluates to false, so it enters the else block and prints out the error.

Changing that second if statement to an "else if" will cause the second if statement to only be checked if the first if statement evaluates to false.

**wandertheverse** · February 4th, 2011, 10:04 PM

Thank you. That makes sense.

Another quick question: how do you use the scanner to read a String input?
input.nextString() ?

Thanks again for the help.

**helloworld922** · February 4th, 2011, 10:32 PM

Usually I use input.nextLine() to capture a whole line of text. However, if you want to capture a single "word" (loosely defined as anything separated by spaces), use input.next().

String inputString = "hello world\nsecond line";
Scanner input = new Scanner(inputString);
System.out.println(input.next()); // only prints out hello
input = new Scanner(inputString);
System.out.println(input.nextLine()); // prints out hello world

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