Java Array returning as two-dimensional

Question

I'm trying to do a Kata on Codewars in Java that asks "you have decided to write a function that will return the first n elements of the sequence with the given common difference step and first element first." Below I have done what is asked, but when I return the final array it returns as two-dimensional (like [[1, 2, 3, 4]] instead of [1, 2, 3, 4]). Please help me understand why and how to fix this!

import java.util.Arrays;

class Progression {

    public static String arithmeticSequenceElements(int first, int step, 
    long total) {
    int[] intArr;
    intArr = new int [(int)total];
    intArr[0] = first;
    int i = 1;
    while(i<total){
      intArr[i] = intArr[i-1] + step;
      i++;
    }
    return Arrays.toString(intArr);
  }

}

Are you sure the platform isn't adding the other set of []? Because that output isn't possible with the code shown. — Kayaman
– Kayaman, Commented Apr 16, 2018 at 17:48
@Kayaman I guess that may be possible, though I've done tons of these tasks on codewars and so far their compiler hasn't changed the type of output — Kevin Lutz
– Kevin Lutz, Commented Apr 16, 2018 at 17:55
I could not reproduce it: ideone.com/dvhGW0. How are you sure the output is "[[1, 2, 3, 4]]"? I get "[1, 2, 3, 4]". — lexicore
– lexicore, Commented Apr 16, 2018 at 17:55
@lexicore I'm sure the output is [[1, 2, 3, 4]] because when I "attempt" the task (tell the site I want to run the code and see if I get the expected answer) it says: expected:<[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]> but was:<[[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]]> — Kevin Lutz
– Kevin Lutz, Commented Apr 16, 2018 at 18:01

Kayaman · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-16 18:11:06Z

1

The platform is expecting you to return just the values 1, 2, 3, 4.

You're returning the default Arrays.toString() representation which is [1, 2, 3, 4]. The platform then displays it as <[[1, 2, 3, 4]]>.

You could return just the elements with for example

String str = Arrays.toString(intArr);
return str.substring(1, str.length()-1);

edited Apr 16, 2018 at 18:11

answered Apr 16, 2018 at 18:07

Kayaman

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2 Comments

Kevin Lutz Over a year ago

Aha, this makes sense. But how would I go about returning the values in the array without returning the array itself? probably a noob question but im not great at Java :[

Kevin Lutz Over a year ago

this worked! thank you so much. very easy to understand once you made me realize it just wanted to strings alone :D

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