Help with interrupting a loop without break or continue

[mwr76]

My instructor will not allow us to use break, (unless it is within a switch statement) or continue. I have written a program that takes a phrase with a hyphen and prints out the corresponding phone number placing the hyphen in the correct position. Which I have done. Works great. I
am supposed to account for the user putting in a blank space. The way I tried to accomplish was with the return value from my ReturnsSum(). If it was a 1 I incremented j (j++) to skip a head of the next index and I decremented i (i--) to account for the skip. but when there is a
space before the hyphen it only prints those 2 numbers and then the hyphen or prints a 1. I am stuck. I just need someone to point me in the right direction (so I can have one of those slap myself in the head epiphanies).

import java.util.*;
 
public class TelephoneConverter
{
	static Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);
	public static void main(String[] args)
	{
		String inputStr, lowerCase, preStr, postStr;
		int hyphenIndex, i = 0, j = 0, k = 0, jump = 1, length, preLength, postLength, num = 0;
		char character = ' ';
 
		System.out.println("Enter the phone number as a phrase, including the hyphen: ");
 
		inputStr = console.nextLine();
		lowerCase = inputStr.toLowerCase();
		hyphenIndex = lowerCase.indexOf("-");
		length = lowerCase.length();
		preStr = lowerCase.substring(0, hyphenIndex);
		postStr = lowerCase.substring(hyphenIndex + 1, length);
		preLength = preStr.length();
		postLength = postStr.length();
 
		System.out.print("Your number is: ");
 
		if(preLength == 3)
		{
			i = preLength;
			while(i > 0)
			{
				if(num == 1)//account for space logic in preStr*******************************
				{
					j++;
					i--;
				}
 
				character = preStr.charAt(j);
				i--;
				j++;
				System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
 
			}
 
				  System.out.print("-");
 
			 j = 0;	
			 i = 4;
			 while(i > 0)
			 {
			 	character = postStr.charAt(j);
				i--;
				j++;
				System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
			 }	
 
		 }
 
		 else if(preLength > 3)
		 {	
		 	i = 3;
			while(i > 0)
			{
		 		character = preStr.charAt(j);
				i--;
				j++;
				System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
		   }
			System.out.print("-");
			i = preLength - 3;
			j = 3;
			while(i > 0)
			{
				character = preStr.charAt(j);
				i--;
				j++;
				System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
 
			}
			i = 7 - preLength;
			j = 0;
			while(i > 0)
			{
				character = postStr.charAt(j);
				i--;
				j++;
				System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
			}
 
		  }
 
		  else if(preLength < 3)
		  {
		  		j = 0;
		 	   i = preLength;
		  		while(i > 0)
				{
					character = preStr.charAt(j);
					i--;
					j++;
					System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
				}
				j = 0;
				i = 3 - preLength;
				while(i > 0)
				{
					character = postStr.charAt(j);
					i--;
					j++;
					System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
				}
					System.out.print("-");
 
				j = 0;
				i = 4;
				while(i > 0)
				{
					character = postStr.charAt(j);
					i--;
					j++;
					System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
				}
		  }
	}
 
	public static int ReturnsNum(char character)
	{
			int num = 0;
				switch(character)
						{
						   case ' ':
								num = 1;
								break;
 
							case 'a':
							case 'b':
							case 'c':
								num = 2;
								break;
 
							case 'd':
							case 'e':
							case 'f':
								num = 3;
								break;
 
							case 'g':
							case 'h':
							case 'i':
								num = 4;
								break;
 
							case 'j':
							case 'k':
							case 'l':
								num = 5;
								break;
 
							case 'm':
							case 'n':
							case 'o':
								num = 6;
								break;
 
							case 'p':
							case 'q':
							case 'r':
							case 's':
								num = 7;
								break;
 
							case 't':
							case 'u':
							case 'v':
								num = 8;
								break;
 
							case 'w':
							case 'x':
							case 'y':
							case 'z':
								num = 9;
								break;							
						}
							return num;
	}
 
}

[copeg]

This thread has been cross posted here:

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The Problems With Cross Posting

[mwr76]

I figured it out. I thought I would share the solution. I added commented asterics lines to show the beginning and end of the code blocks I added:

import java.util.*;
 
public class TelephoneConverter
{
	static Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);
	public static void main(String[] args)
	{
		String inputStr, lowerCase, preStr, postStr;
		int hyphenIndex, i = 0, j = 0, k = 0, jump = 1, length, preLength, postLength, num = 0;
		char character = ' ';
 
		System.out.println("Enter the phone number as a phrase, including the hyphen: ");
 
		inputStr = console.nextLine();
		lowerCase = inputStr.toLowerCase();
		hyphenIndex = lowerCase.indexOf("-");
		length = lowerCase.length();
		preStr = lowerCase.substring(0, hyphenIndex);
		postStr = lowerCase.substring(hyphenIndex + 1, length);
		preLength = preStr.length();
		postLength = postStr.length();
 
		System.out.print("Your number is: ");
		if((preLength == 3) && (preStr.charAt(1) == ' '))               //**************************************************
		{
			System.out.print(ReturnsNum(preStr.charAt(0)));
			System.out.print(ReturnsNum(preStr.charAt(2)));
			System.out.print(ReturnsNum(postStr.charAt(0)));
			System.out.print("-");
 
			i = 4;
			j = 1;
 
			while(i > 0 )
			{
				character = postStr.charAt(j);
				j++;
				i--;
				if(ReturnsNum(character) == 1)
				{
					System.out.print("");
					j++;
					i++;
				}
				else
				{
				 System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
				}                                                             //***********************************************
			}
		}
 
 
		if((preLength == 3) && (preStr.charAt(1) != ' '))
		{
			i = preLength;
			while(i > 0)
			{
				if(num == 1)
				{
					j++;
					i--;
				}
 
				character = preStr.charAt(j);
				i--;
				j++;
				System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
 
			}
 
				  System.out.print("-");
 
			 j = 0;	
			 i = 4;
			 while(i > 0)
			 {
			 	character = postStr.charAt(j);
				i--;
				j++;
				if(ReturnsNum(character) == 1)               //*************************************************
				{
					System.out.print("");
					j++;
					i++;
				}
				else
				{
					System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
				}	                                                                //***********************************************
			 }	
 
		 }
 
		 else if(preLength > 3)
		 {	
		 	i = 3;
			while(i > 0)
			{
		 		character = preStr.charAt(j);
				i--;
				j++;
				System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
		   }
			System.out.print("-");
			i = preLength - 3;
			j = 3;
			while(i > 0)
			{
				character = preStr.charAt(j);
				i--;
				j++;
				System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
 
			}
			i = 7 - preLength;
			j = 0;
			while(i > 0)
			{
				character = postStr.charAt(j);
				i--;
				j++;
				if(ReturnsNum(character) == 1)            //********************************************
				{
					System.out.print("");
					j++;
					i++;
				}
				else
				{
					System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
				}	                                                              //********************************************
			}
 
		  }
 
		  else if(preLength < 3)
		  {
		  		j = 0;
		 	   i = preLength;
		  		while(i > 0)
				{
					character = preStr.charAt(j);
					i--;
					j++;
					System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
				}
				j = 0;
				i = 3 - preLength;
				while(i > 0)
				{
					character = postStr.charAt(j);
					i--;
					j++;
					if(ReturnsNum(character) ==1)               //******************************************
					{
						System.out.print("");
						j++;
						i++;
					}
					else
					{
						System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
					}	                                                               //****************************************
				}
					System.out.print("-");
 
				j = 0;
				i = 4;
				while(i > 0)
				{
					character = postStr.charAt(j);
					i--;
					j++;
					if(ReturnsNum(character) == 1)                        //**********************************************
					{
						System.out.print("");
						j++;
						i++;
					}
					else
					{
						System.out.print(ReturnsNum(character));
					}	                                                                   //******************************************
				}
		  }
	}
 
	public static int ReturnsNum(char character)
	{
			int num = 0;
				switch(character)
						{
						   case ' ':
								num = 1;
								break;
 
							case 'a':
							case 'b':
							case 'c':
								num = 2;
								break;
 
							case 'd':
							case 'e':
							case 'f':
								num = 3;
								break;
 
							case 'g':
							case 'h':
							case 'i':
								num = 4;
								break;
 
							case 'j':
							case 'k':
							case 'l':
								num = 5;
								break;
 
							case 'm':
							case 'n':
							case 'o':
								num = 6;
								break;
 
							case 'p':
							case 'q':
							case 'r':
							case 's':
								num = 7;
								break;
 
							case 't':
							case 'u':
							case 'v':
								num = 8;
								break;
 
							case 'w':
							case 'x':
							case 'y':
							case 'z':
								num = 9;
								break;							
						}
							return num;
	}
 
}