String Arrays not working. Compiler not interacting

Question

I was learning how to sort arrays with different types of value holders. I tried to sort an array with Strings, but it comes up with the error message, Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 6 at SortingArrays.main(SortingArrays.java:50)

There aren't any errors the compiler found, but it comes up with this. The array with numbers worked fine, but the strings didn't. Here is my code.

import java.util.Arrays;
public class SortingArrays {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub

        int[] aryNums;

        aryNums = new int[6];


        aryNums[0] = 7;
        aryNums[1] = 89;
        aryNums[2] = 45;
        aryNums[3] = 234;
        aryNums[4] = 2;
        aryNums[5] = 75;


        Arrays.sort(aryNums);

        int i;

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

            System.out.println(aryNums[i]);
        }


        String[] aryStrings;

        aryStrings = new String[5];


        aryStrings[0] = "I have no idea what I'm doing.";
        aryStrings[1] = "Should I know what I'm doing?";
        aryStrings[2] = "I guess not.";
        aryStrings[3] = "There's my boss.";
        aryStrings[4] = "Whoop, he's looking. Hide!";



        Arrays.sort(aryStrings);


        int x;

        for (x = 0; x < aryStrings.length; x++) {

            System.out.println(aryStrings[i]);
        }

    }

}

Specifically, you're looping with x but indexing with i - which is why you should be declaring your indexers in the scope of the for loop instead of outside of it. This would then become a compiler error. — User1000547
– User1000547, Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 14:26

SMA · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-23 14:32:18Z

4

You are getting runtime exception. ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException means you are trying to access array beyond its capacity with what its defined.

Problem is with this code:

for (x = 0; x < aryStrings.length; x++){
    System.out.println(aryStrings[i]);
                                  ^^
}

You are using i as index instead of x. Here i (after your print statements) would be 6 in your case and your array can hold 5 elements which start with 0 and ends with 5.

edited Dec 23, 2015 at 14:32

answered Dec 23, 2015 at 14:26

SMA

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Comments

OPK · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-23 14:34:40Z

3

At the very end of your program:

 System.out.println(aryStrings[i]);

i = 6, of course it out of bounds

What you need is:

System.out.println(aryStrings[x]);

edited Dec 23, 2015 at 14:34

answered Dec 23, 2015 at 14:26

OPK

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Comments

Ramanlfc · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-23 14:26:37Z

2

i after your first loop is 6.

so here

for (x = 0; x < aryStrings.length; x++){
        System.out.println(aryStrings[i]); // i here is 6 but there are 5 elements in aryStrings
    }

use x in this loop not i

answered Dec 23, 2015 at 14:26

Ramanlfc

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Comments

MasterKiller · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-23 15:24:40Z

1

As other commenters have said, the problem is with your iterating variable. But to completely avoid this problem, use a for-each loop. As Joshua Bloch says in Effective Java, 2nd Edition (Item 46):

// The preferred idiom for iterating over collections and arrays
for (int aryNum : aryNums) {
   System.out.println(aryNum);
}

Or better in Java 8:

Arrays.stream(aryNums).forEach(System.out::println);

answered Dec 23, 2015 at 15:24

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Comments

Sam · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-23 14:27:43Z

0

You're using i instead of x in the second print statement

answered Dec 23, 2015 at 14:27

Sam

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Comments

Abdelhak · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-23 14:28:13Z

0

Change the index in x

   System.out.println(aryStrings[x]);

answered Dec 23, 2015 at 14:28

Abdelhak

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Comments

Drew Kennedy · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-23 14:33:29Z

0

As the other answers have stated, by the time you reach your second loop, i is equal to a higher integer than your String array has indices.

Another way to fix your issue is to reset the value of i:

int x;
i = 0;//re-initialize    

for (x = 0; x < aryStrings.length; x++) {
    System.out.println(aryStrings[i]);
}

However, this defeats the purpose of your x variable.

As a rule of thumb, I'd keep your incrementer local to your loop to prevent problems like this arising:

//declare x in the loop
for (int x = 0; x < aryStrings.length; x++) {
    System.out.println(aryStrings[x]);
}

answered Dec 23, 2015 at 14:33

Drew Kennedy

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