Finding a value in an Array?

Question

I am trying to search for the value in an array. The results keep coming back as nothing though. I am assuming my loop isnt proper, could you assist me in what i am doing wrong?? It is suppose to use the value held in "searchFor" and match up. Then display the value in Printer.printPersonList.

    public static ArrayList<Person> findPerson(String searchFor) {
    ArrayList<Person> matches = new ArrayList<>();
    for (Person p : personList) {
        boolean isAMatch = false;

        if (p.getFirstName().equalsIgnoreCase(searchFor)) {
            isAMatch = true;

        } else if (p.getLastName().equalsIgnoreCase(searchFor)) {
            isAMatch = true;

        } else if (p.getSocialSecurityNumber().contains(searchFor)) {
            isAMatch = true;
            ;
        } else if (String.format("%d", p.getAge()).equals(searchFor))
            if (isAMatch) {

                matches.add(p);
            }

        Printer.printPersonList(matches);

    }
    return matches;

}

This is from printer.java

public static void printPersonList(ArrayList<Person> personListToPrint) {

    System.out
            .printf("\nLast Name           First Name           Social Security Number  Age\n");
    System.out
            .printf("=================== ===================  ======================  ===\n");
    for (Person p : personListToPrint) {

        System.out.printf("%-20s%-21s%-24s%s\n", p.getLastName(),
                p.getLastName(), p.getSocialSecurityNumber(), p.getAge());

    }

else if (String.format("%d", p.getAge()).equals(searchFor)) has no meaningful body. — s16h
– s16h, Commented Apr 24, 2014 at 22:17

manan · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-24 22:17:35Z

2

The problem with your algorithm is that you are setting isAMatch as true if the Person's first name is equal to the key that you are searching for, but not adding the person to the list. Here's the segment that's flawed:

...code omitted...

} else if (String.format("%d", p.getAge()).equals(searchFor))
            if (isAMatch) {

                matches.add(p);
            }

        Printer.printPersonList(matches);

    }

...code omitted...

The if(isAMatch) code is only executed if String.format("%d", p.getAge()).equals(searchFor) - there are no open/close parentheses afterwards to indicate a code block.

answered Apr 24, 2014 at 22:17

manan

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Comments

rgettman · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-24 22:18:04Z

1

It looks like you're missing some code. Right now, a match will only be added if the age matches and isAMatch is already true. You'll probably want to change

} else if (String.format("%d", p.getAge()).equals(searchFor))
    if (isAMatch) {
        matches.add(p);
    }

to

} else if (String.format("%d", p.getAge()).equals(searchFor)) {
    isAMatch = true;
}
if (isAMatch) {
    matches.add(p);
}

answered Apr 24, 2014 at 22:18

rgettman

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3 Comments

user3562527 Over a year ago

still displays nothing :(

rgettman Over a year ago

At this point you'll need to determine whether personList contains any items, and ensure that your search should find something by checking the data in each Person.

user3562527 Over a year ago

stackoverflow.com/questions/23281105/… :(

user2880020 · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-24 22:39:42Z

Your code should be like that :

public static ArrayList<Person> findPerson(String searchFor) {
    ArrayList<Person> matches = new ArrayList<>();
    for (Person p : personList) {
        boolean isAMatch = false;

        if (p.getFirstName().equalsIgnoreCase(searchFor)) {
            isAMatch = true;

        } else if (p.getLastName().equalsIgnoreCase(searchFor)) {
            isAMatch = true;

        } else if (p.getSocialSecurityNumber().contains(searchFor)) {
            isAMatch = true;

        } else if (String.format("%d", p.getAge()).equals(searchFor)) {
           isAMatch = true;
            }

        if (isAMatch) {

                matches.add(p);
            }
    }
    Printer.printPersonList(matches);
    return matches;

}

I modified the last else if statement, and displaced the Printer method call out of the for loop.

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