Checking for data in array indexes

Question

I am trying to create a program that will read in a file, split that file into an array wherever there is an "/" and then have the variable "theOutput" set as the value of the index in the array. Trouble is, the index is always equal to null. Here is my code:

String theOutput = null;
        String content = new Scanner(new File("URL.txt")).useDelimiter("\\Z").next();
        theInput = content;
        String[] URL = theInput.split("/");
        System.out.println(theInput);
        System.out.println(URL.length);




            if (URL.length == 1) {
                theOutput = URL[0];
                if (URL.length == 3) {
                    theOutput = URL[2];
                    if (URL.length == 4) {
                        theOutput = URL[3];
                        if (URL.length == 5) {
                            theOutput = URL[4];
                            if (URL.length == 6) {
                                theOutput = URL[5];
                            }
                        }
                    }

An example of the data found in the file would be "coffee://localhost/brew" so it doesn't always use 5 indexes in the array.

Instead of that giant if statement, you could just use URL[URL.length - 1] to get the last element of the array. — Jeffrey
– Jeffrey, Commented Mar 21, 2013 at 0:40
@Jeffrey I don't understand. Wouldn't I need a giant if statement using your method? — spogebob92
– spogebob92, Commented Mar 21, 2013 at 0:44
Why would you? The last accessible index in any Java array will be Array.length - 1. — Jeffrey
– Jeffrey, Commented Mar 21, 2013 at 0:46
This would be an excellent candidate for regular expressions. — le3th4x0rbot
– le3th4x0rbot, Commented Mar 21, 2013 at 0:48
@Jeffrey 's method works because if the length is 1, you assign output to URL[0]. if the length is 2, you assign output to URL[1]. So the index is always one less than the length of the array, so theOutput = URL[URL.length - 1]` is sufficient — jedyobidan
– jedyobidan, Commented Mar 21, 2013 at 0:48

jedyobidan · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-21 00:46:28Z

1

your if statements are nested in each other, so if(URL.length == 3) will only run if the length of the URL is 1. So, you should do something like this:

if(URL.length == 1){
    theOutput = URL[0];
}
if(URL.length == 2){
    theOutput = URL[1]
}
//etc.

or, you can say theOutput = URL[URL.length-1] to get the last element of the array.

answered Mar 21, 2013 at 0:46

jedyobidan

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