CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaarrays
Lachlan Norris
Lachlan Norris

Reputation: 5

Search Array using startsWith()

I am looking for a bit of help searching within an array using startsWith().

I want the user to enter a first name, search the array, and if the first name matches, print: employee ID number, last name, first name.

If there are no matches, return a simple error message.

The code below searches through the array, prints the matching employees, but also continues to print the error message until it has looped through the whole array.

The output currently:

ID No: 2345 - Holt, Steve
ID No: 2345 - Molt, Steve
ID No: 2345 - Sholt, Steve
ID No: 2345 - Colt, Steve
No Matching employee records found!
No Matching employee records found!
No Matching employee records found!
No Matching employee records found!
...

How can I change it to only return matches, OR if not matches, only then return the error message.

Thanks for your help!

private static final Service [] employeeList = new Employee [10];
private static final Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);

public static void main(String[] args){

                                    // First name / Last name / Employee Number

  final Employee FakeEmployee0 = new Employee("Steve", "Holt", "2345");
  final Employee FakeEmployee1 = new Employee("Steve", "Molt", "2111");
  final Employee FakeEmployee2 = new Employee("Steve", "Sholt", "245");
  final Employee FakeEmployee3 = new Employee("Steve", "Colt", "2222");
  final Employee FakeEmployee4 = new Employee("Steve", "Wolt", "25");
  final Employee FakeEmployee5 = new Employee("Boy", "Blue", "1");
  final Employee FakeEmployee6 = new Employee("Boy", "Wonder", "8999");
  final Employee FakeEmployee7 = new Employee("Boy", "George", "500");
  final Employee FakeEmployee8 = new Employee("Will", "Smith", "123");
  final Employee FakeEmployee9 = new Employee("Will", "Ferret", "23");      

  employeeList [0] = FakeEmployee0;
  employeeList [1] = FakeEmployee1;
  employeeList [2] = FakeEmployee2;
  employeeList [3] = FakeEmployee3;
  employeeList [4] = FakeEmployee4;
  employeeList [5] = FakeEmployee5;
  employeeList [6] = FakeEmployee6;
  employeeList [7] = FakeEmployee7;
  employeeList [8] = FakeEmployee8;
  employeeList [9] = FakeEmployee9;

// Search for employees by first name:

  private static void searchNames(){

    System.out.println("Enter employee's first name: ");
    String nameCheck = sc.nextLine();


    for (int i = 0; i < employeeList.length; i++){
        if (employeeList[i].getFirstName().startsWith(nameCheck)){
            System.out.println("ID No: " + employeeList[i].getIdNum() + " - "
                               + employeeList[i].getLastName() + " " +
                               employeeList[i].getFirstName());
        }

        else {
            System.out.println("No Matching employee records found!");
        }
}
}

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1635

Answers (5)

stevecross
stevecross

Reputation: 5684

You can do this easily using Java 8 streams:

public static void main(final String[] args) throws Exception {
    Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
    Employee[] employees = {
            new Employee("Steve", "Holt", "2345"),
            new Employee("Steve", "Molt", "2111"),
            new Employee("Steve", "Sholt", "245"),
            new Employee("Steve", "Colt", "2222"),
            new Employee("Steve", "Wolt", "25"),
            new Employee("Boy", "Blue", "1"),
            new Employee("Boy", "Wonder", "8999"),
            new Employee("Boy", "George", "500"),
            new Employee("Will", "Smith", "123"),
            new Employee("Will", "Ferret", "23")
    };
    String prefix = scanner.nextLine();
    List<Employee> matches =
            Arrays.stream(employees).filter(e -> e.getFirstName().startsWith(prefix)).collect(Collectors.toList());

    if (matches.isEmpty()) {
        System.out.println("No Matching employee records found!");
    } else {
        matches.stream().forEach(System.out::println);
    }

    scanner.close();
}

If you can't use streams, you have to iterate over the array and build the matches list on your own.

I moved the

System.out.println("ID No: " + employeeList[i].getIdNum() + " - "
                           + employeeList[i].getLastName() + " " +
                           employeeList[i].getFirstName());

part into the toString method of the Employee class like this:

public String toString() {
    return String.format("ID No: %s - %s %s", id, lastName, firstName);
}

Thus we are able to write just matches.stream().forEach(System.out::println); to print all matching employees.

Upvotes: 0

npinti
npinti

Reputation: 52185

The problem is in your for loop. You are essentially printing the error message for each employee which does not fit your description.

To solve this issue, you can simply have a boolean flag, call is empFound which is initially set to false. As you go through your employees, if a match is found, then you simply set empFound to true and break the loop.

Outside the for loop, you show the error message if and only if empFound is false.

As @vvs pointed out, the solution proposed here will stop once that you have found your match, that is, it will yield at most 1 hit. If you want to list all the employees which start with the string you are after, simply omit the break statement. This will cause the loop to keep going and check all your employee elements.

Upvotes: 5

Rahman
Rahman

Reputation: 3785

Declare a flag isFound = false;

Add a break :

if (employeeList[i].getFirstName().startsWith(nameCheck)){
                System.out.println("ID No: " + employeeList[i].getIdNum() + " - "
                                   + employeeList[i].getLastName() + " " +
                                   employeeList[i].getFirstName());
                 isFound = true;
                 break;
            }

And remove the error message from the loop. Outside of the loop check :

if(isFound) {
// print message
}

Upvotes: -2

zdenda.online
zdenda.online

Reputation: 2514

I think he wants to print all employess that match thus break will not solve it. What you should do is have a flag if you found at least one employee with given name.

boolean atLeastOneFound = false;
for (int i = 0; i < employeeList.length; i++){
    if (employeeList[i].getFirstName().startsWith(nameCheck)){
        System.out.println(...);
        atLeastOneFound = true;
    }
}
if (!atLeastOneFound) {
    System.out.println("No Matching employee records found!");
}

Upvotes: 0

Rahul Yadav
Rahul Yadav

Reputation: 1513

Insert break statement in inside your if block as your for is executing untill the loop ends

if (employeeList[i].getFirstName().startsWith(nameCheck)){
            System.out.println("ID No: " + employeeList[i].getIdNum() + " - "
                               + employeeList[i].getLastName() + " " +
                               employeeList[i].getFirstName());
          break;
}

Upvotes: -1

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