Thread: How to use a while loop to perform input validation?

This is quite straight forward name (don't mind if I call you name do you?). It can be split up into 3 main components. So where to begin? Well we need to define what characters you define to be legal. We would do this as follows:

final String[] legal = {"rock", "paper", "scissors"};

Now we have a clean and simple data structure storing all the values you are willing to accept. But how does this translate into checking if a value matches? Well easy... with an array, we dont need to fiddle about with a long column of ifs and elses, we just need a simple loop.

	private static boolean isLegal(String input, String[] legal){
		for(String value : legal){
			if(value.equals(input.toLowerCase())){
				return true;
			}
		}
		return false;
	}

If the input string matches any of the array content, the loop will stop in its tracks and return TRUE. This indicates that a match has been found. However, if the input doesn't match any of the legal keywords, it will exit the loop and return FALSE as default. This method means we can easily and cleanly check for a value inside the loop, and anytime you want to add an extra keyword, all you need to do is add it to the original array.

So we've got the legal keywords, we know how to check if a word matches the keywords, all we need now is the main loop. We start off by using a Scanner object. Using the scanner, we poll the user for an input and once we receive it, we check the loop condition before we re-enter or exit the loop.

		final Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
		String input = null;
		do{
			input = scanner.nextLine();
		}while(!isLegal(input, legal));

Using a do-while loop, we can immediately enter the loop without checking anything, but in-order to exit the loop and not be asked to input another value, the condition must be satisfied. Using the method we made, we can check if the contents of the array match the users input. If its not legal, we re-enter the loop.

Good luck.

Use String.equals(String) to compare Strings. For objects (which a String is), .equals() method compares "equality", while == compares if they are physically the same object in memory.

Did I just give you the code and a full explanation for nothing? >.>

Your sort really drive me up the wrong way. Pull your finger out of your arse for once and read.

Funnily enough, American English is different to British English.