Thread: A For loop that calculates every possible outcome for 2 AND 3 chars...

Hi there,

I'm having some trouble with an assignment.

I'm having a slight problem creating a nested for loop that displays every possible combination for random input. It's supposed to be like a slot machine game. The person is to enter three characters, it checks the characters, stores them, and then is supposed to give every combo of the chars like so...

Input = @ and #

@@@
@@#
@##
@#@
###
##@
#@@
#@#

How could I create a nested for loop that does so.

I can't even think of how to do it on paper. Apparently it requires 3 nested for loops, one for each character.

Input can also be three chars such as @#$, Which would yield 27 possibilities instead of 8.



Here is my code so far....

I know how to do a nested for loop, and I know how they work... but I don't understand how you can create every possible solution, regardless of what is entered...

 import javax.swing.*;
import java.util.*;
 
 
public class oneArmBandit
{
  public static void main (String [] args)
  {
     //variables
    String input = "full";
    String empty = "";
    boolean condition = true;
    Scanner keyboard;
    char signOne = '-';
    char signTwo = '-';
    char signThree = '-';
    int inputLength = 0;
    int numberOfElements = 0;
 
    //for(int i = 0; i < numberOfElements; i++)
 
   /* for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
      for (int j = 0; j < 5; j++)  {
    System.out.println("i: " +i+ " j: " +j);
      }
    } */
 
 
 
 
    while (!input.equals(empty) && condition == true)
    {
      input = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter the symbols on the wheels:");
      keyboard = new Scanner(input);  
 
      System.out.println(input + "\n");
      inputLength = (input.length());
 
 
      if (inputLength == 2)
      {
        signOne = (input).charAt(0);
      signTwo = (input).charAt(1);
 
      for(int i = 0; i < inputLength; i++)
 
        for(int j = 0; j < 2; j++) 
        {System.out.println(signOne);
      System.out.println(signTwo);};
 
        for (int k = 0; k < 2; k++)
        {
 
            condition = false;
        }
      }
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
      }
 
      }
  }
 
 
 
/* 
      if (inputLength == 3)
      {
        signOne = (input).charAt(0);
       signTwo = (input).charAt(1);
      signThree = (input).charAt(2);
 
      for(int i = 0; i < inputLength; i++)
      { System.out.println(signOne);
 
        for(int j = 0; j < inputLength; j++)
        { System.out.println(signTwo);
 
         for(int k = 0; k < numberOfElements; k++)
         { System.out.println(signThree);
 
        }
      }
 
      condition = false;
      }
 
 
 
      */

For my code, I'm just trying to get the for loop to run when the char's entered are only two... That's why the bottom portion, when char == 3, is commented out...

I can't seem to think of a solution/what to put in the for loop to make it run all possible combinations.


Any insight would be helpful.

I am new to programming, so laymen's terms would be appreciated

Cheers,

Matt

Input = @ and #
I can't even think of how to do it on paper. Apparently it requires 3 nested for loops, one for each character.

I see two characters. Now is it missing a character or do you want two loops? If you don't have a solution to the problem you should not be writing code yet. Work on steps to solve the problem first and see how far you can get. It truly is helpful in writing code.

Originally Posted by jps

I see two characters. Now is it missing a character or do you want two loops? If you don't have a solution to the problem you should not be writing code yet. Work on steps to solve the problem first and see how far you can get. It truly is helpful in writing code.

Since it is supposed to be like a slot machine, it is supposed to display 3 characters, even if 2 are inputted, such as;

Input = @ and #

@@@
@@#
@#@
@##
###
##@
#@@
#@#

....

and if input is # @ $

it displays the same sort of deal but there are a lot more outcomes obviously...

I understand the concept, using a nested FOR loop to create this output, but what is supposed to put into the...

for (???; ???; ???)
for (???; ???; ???)
for(???;???;???)

I am STUCK

Did you write down steps to take to solve the problem?

What are they? What step are you stuck on?

You want to print "one thing" three times. Where that "one thing" is a choice of an unknown number of items. So you need some way to get and save an unknown number of items. Some way to (randomly?) choose one element from the set of options. Having these steps in order will make code writing much easier.

Instead of using a for loop, try to populate a ch[3] with random symbols appearing from a list of symbols in each of the array position.