CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javastring
Nopiforyou
Nopiforyou

Reputation: 350

Java string assignment from if/else statement

I'm fairly new to java, and I've been trying to debug this code for some time now. I figured there must be something that I don't understand fully about Strings, so I thought I'd bite the bullet and ask on Stackoverflow. 

int s1Len = s1.length();
int s2Len = s2.length();                
if(s1Len < s2Len){
    String bigInput = s2;
    String smallInput = s1;
}
else{
    String bigInput = s1;
    String smallInput = s2;
}

char[] bigCharArr = bigInput.toCharArray();
char[] smallCharArr = smallInput.toCharArray();

The error is that the compiler does not recognize the variables bigInput and smallInput when I'm trying to convert them into char arrays. Earlier I did not have the if/else statement to determine the larger string and it worked fine. I've used print statements, and Strings bigInput and smallInput are recognized until I'm past the if/else statements.

s1 and s2 are also other String class tokens from another String that I parsed earlier.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1427

Answers (3)

Hayden
Hayden

Reputation: 2808

You're declaring the variable within the if/else block. This means that it is local to that if/else block and can only be seen between the brackets for that if/else block.

Try

int s1Len = s1.length();
int s2Len = s2.length();                
String bigInput = "";
String smallInput = "";

if(s1Len < s2Len){
    bigInput = s2;
    smallInput = s1;
}
else{
    bigInput = s1;
    smallInput = s2;
}

char[] bigCharArr = bigInput.toCharArray();
char[] smallCharArr = smallInput.toCharArray();

Upvotes: 2

Abi
Abi

Reputation: 1345

When you declare the variables within a block it is local to that block and wont be accessible from outside the block

declare your strings outside the block

      String bigInput = "";
      String smallInput = "";

      int s1Len = s1.length();
      int s2Len = s2.length();                
      if(s1Len < s2Len){
           bigInput = s2;
           smallInput = s1;
      }
      else{
           bigInput = s1;
           smallInput = s2;
      }

      char[] bigCharArr = bigInput.toCharArray();
      char[] smallCharArr = smallInput.toCharArray();

Upvotes: 4

İsmet Alkan
İsmet Alkan

Reputation: 5447

Define the 

String bigInput;
String smallInput;

at the top of your code.

Upvotes: 0

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