How to print chars with symbols from a string

[blacksky]

Hello!

Just before I write my problem I would like to wish you all a happy new year!

I'm a student who is still fresh to programing in java. I have to make a program which will read a string of text and then print it out with chars made with symbols (*).

So a person can enter some chars and it should look something like this:
(EDIT: cant post images)
(EDIT 2: the char under didnt come out too good. just look on google "ascii generator" and thats something what im supposed to do)

**
****
** **
******
** **

this above is char a. It has to be for every letter. Since we have some special letters we can type the "č" as "c", "š" as "s" and "ž" as "z".

The string should also break line at about 80th column and resume printing in a new line.


This is what I have come up with so far. I haven't done it all yet, i know. but I have tested it for only the char "a" and it writes "A" under the first "A". I know this is because i used "\n" but the problem is that I don't know how else I would print those chars with symbols. Is there some other way to remain in the first line after printing the first char out? Like move the cursor back up to the first line? Or should I type those chars with symbols in soem other way.

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;

public class Test_input {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		
		try {
		System.out.print("Enter text here: ");
		BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
		String text = br.readLine();
		
		// this is for the string length
		int length_of_text = text.length();
		
		// the counter is used for printing, it prints as long as i have a char to print out
		int counter = -1;
		
		char a = 'a';
		char b = 'b';
		char c = 'c';
		char č = 'č';
		char d = 'd';
		char e = 'e';
		char f = 'f';
		char g = 'g';
		char h = 'h';
		char i = 'i';
		char j = 'j';
		char k = 'k';
		char l = 'l';
		char m = 'm';
		char n = 'n';
		char o = 'o';
		char p = 'p';
		char r = 'r';
		char s = 's';
		char š = 'š';
		char t = 't';
		char u = 'u';
		char v = 'v';
		char z = 'z';
		char ž = 'ž';
		char x = ' ';
		
		
		while (counter < length_of_text) {
				counter += 1;
				
				if (text.charAt(counter) == a)
					System.out.print("  **  \n" + 
									 " **** \n" + 
									 "**  **\n" +
									 "******\n" +
									 "**  **\n");
			
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == b)
					System.out.print("B");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == c)
					System.out.print("C");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == č)
					System.out.print("C");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == d)
					System.out.print("D");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == e)
					System.out.print("E");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == f)
					System.out.print("F");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == g)
					System.out.print("G");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == h)
					System.out.print("H");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == i)
					System.out.print("I");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == j)
					System.out.print("J");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == k)
					System.out.print("K");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == l)
					System.out.print("L");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == m)
					System.out.print("M");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == n)
					System.out.print("N");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == o)
					System.out.print("O");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == p)
					System.out.print("P");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == r)
					System.out.print("R");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == s)
					System.out.print("S");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == š)
					System.out.print("S");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == t)
					System.out.print("T");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == u)
					System.out.print("U");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == v)
					System.out.print("V");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == z)
					System.out.print("Z");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == ž)
					System.out.print("Z");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == x)
					System.out.print(" ");
				
		}
		
		}	catch (Exception e) {
		}
	}

}

Sorry for my English, I know its not the best. Thanks in advance for all of your help.

EDIT 3: converted everything to english

[raffaele181188]

1st suggestion: You'd better changing your member names in English, it makes code easier to read for us. And mixing languages is not a good practice anyway.

I think your problem is quite tricky, but keep in mind that with the println() or print() methods your cursor writes a line and you can't get back. So the only solution, if you want to use those methods, is buffering the characters and writing the whole line at a time.

For example, you know that the first line must contain the chars 'a', 'b', and 'c'. Then you write the first line for the symbols a, b, c, then the second line, etc...

The algorythm is quite complicated. Now I'm trying to find a decent one

[CJSLMAN]

I'm assuming you want something like:

  ****     *****
 **   **   **  **
 ******    ****
 **   **   **  **
 **   **   *****

There are various print methods. The one you are using is println() method which moves the cursor to the next line. You can use the print() method which just prints, without the CRLF (Carriage Return Line Feed). I'm not sure that this will solve your problem, because your trying to print varoius lines of characters to the screen, not just one character.

Luck,
CJSL

[blacksky]

@raffaele181188:
I have converted everything to English as you have suggested. Sorry I forgot to do it when I posted the code here.

@CJSLMA:

Yes the thing you have posted is exactly what I want to print out. And I'm not using println(). I'm using print ().
Thats the biggest problem. I'm trying to print all the chars in one line. And brake after 80 column (this part is not the problem, i figure i would just count the fixed length of every char and break after 80).

[raffaele181188]

My solution

//The ABSTRACT class symbol represent your graphic
//character. There is a private class called Symbol<X>
//for each character you'll want to implement
//All these classes extend Symbol and define its getSymbols()
//The returned value is used in the main application

abstract class Symbol {
   //For example
   public static final int HEIGHT = 5;

   abstract String[] getSymbols();

   //This is a factory method to instantiate a Symbol
   public static Symbol makeMeA(char request) {
      //...
   }

   //This is the private class which represents the letter 'A'
   private class SymbolA extends Symbol {
      String[] getSymbols() {
         String[] output = new String[] {
              "      *      ",
              "    *   *   ",
              "  *       * ",
              " *******",
              " *         *",
         };//All lines are same length ^^^
         return output;
      }
   }

   private class SymbolB extends Symbol { ... }
   ...
   private class SymbolZ extends Symbol { ... }
}

Then you have the main class

public class OutSymbols {
   public static void main(String... args) {
       //... First you get your String and then cut it off in Symbols
       //objects, putting them in a container. Then
       for (int i = 0; i < Symbol.HEIGHT; i++) {
           for (Symbol in your line to be output) {
               String[] graphics = symbol.getSymbols();
               System.out.print(graphics[i]);
           }
       }
   }
}

I hope my code is sufficiently clear to be understood. Of course, you have to tune it, it's only pseudo code

[blacksky]

Thank you very much for this, but unfortunately it is a bit too advanced for me. The problem is that I will have to show my program and explain every single line of code. Since I'm am still new to java and programing in general I don't understand a lot of things in your code.

If there was just a way to print the chars without those "\n" which break the line, but print a char as a whole and then resume at the first line. That would make it alot easier I guess.

Still looking for other suggestions. Thank you guys for all your effort so far :).

[CJSLMAN]

Can you use Arrays? Not sure this will work...
Create your letter using Arrays (see the sample that raffaele posted) and you would have to print them like a dot matrix printer (first row 0, then row 1, etc)...
For example:
print row 0:
print(letterA[0] + " " + letterB[0]);

  ****     *****

print row 1:
print(letterA[1] + " " + letterB[1]);

  ****     *****
 **   **   **  **

print row 2:
print(letterA[2] + " " + letterB[2]);

  ****     *****
 **   **   **  **
 ******    ****

etc...

There will probably be more considerations to handle with this... just an idea.

Luck,
CJSL

[raffaele181188]

The CJLSMAN's solution works perfectly, and is a bit simpler then my code. But this eventually need to be wrapped into some usable class, and so you come back to my code...
Both CJLSMAN and I think that the only solution you have is to print one line at a time. If you can use my code then you'll save a lot of time.

Anyway, in Java there is no way to output a char at a given (x, y)

All you can do is calling print() or println(), which behave the same except for the adding of '\n' at the end of the ouput. You can't get back, sorry :)

[raffaele181188]

I continued the CJLSMAN's idea, but this is neither OO nor reusable code. It's quite basic. Inside your class declaration you define these fields:

//This is a String array, made up by the lines which constitute
//your gliph. Keep in mind that all of String objects 
//_ARE_THE_SAME_LENGTH_ 
private static String[] letterA = {
"****",
"*   *",
"****",
"*    *",
}

private static String[] letterB = {
...
}

...

private static String[] letterZ = { ...}

Then in your main method, once you have got the chars in your line

//This array contains the letters which will be ouput
//Something like
String[][] line = { letterH, letterE, letterL, letterL, letterO};
//The above contains the letters H E L L O

//Now for loop
//Of course this is an example. Your numOfRows will be
//letterA.length or letterB.length or ...
int numOfRows = 5;
for (int row = 0; row < numOfRows; row++) {
   for (String[] gliph : line) {
      System.out.print(gliph[row]);
   }
   System.out.println();
}

[CJSLMAN]

Yeap... I basically came to the same code as you did raffaele. Definitely not kosher, but it works.

CJSL

[CJSLMAN]

Thinking a little more about this, if a letter is specified that isn't represented by your code you can always have the code default to a generic symbol say like a splat "*".

Luck,
CJSL

[raffaele181188]

I basically came to the same code as you did

No no... :) the code is yours all! ;)
My solution was totally different, then I saw the yours, I found it interesting and coded on your idea eh eh. A lil curiosity: what does your name mean?

@blacksky
Now it's up to you getting the letters and splitting the lines... And keep in mind: THAT isn't OO approach. It may seems C code...

[CJSLMAN]

My code differed in that:

• The user can input his code (using a JOptionPane, but command line arguments would have worked the same)
• I used an ArrayList that contained the letter arrays (since I don't know how many letters the user is going to specify)
• I placed the letter arrays in methods (call a method, get a string array back).

I'll post my solution once the BlackSky posts his solution.

As for my nick, it's the initials of all my name + "man". Sorta like Superman, Ultraman, etc.:)

@blacksky: remember... when creating the letters, they have to have the same amount of rows.

Luck

[raffaele181188]

@CJLS-man eh eh
Ok, I understood you. I only think that he doesn't know ArrayLists and JOptionPanes :p

[blacksky]

Yes your right I don't fully understand. I know a bit about ArrayLists. How to add a char to an array or some other value and maybe how to sort the list but that is about it.

I understand what you meant by printing one line after another but I don't know how to implement that since it has to print random chars which he breaks from the string which a user inputs (ex: hello world).

I have tryed another thing. I have used a function which I have found on the net. It reads the chars from text files (.txt) and prints them line by line. The problem yet again is that it prints every char line by line (since every letter char has its own .txt file). And because of that every next letter is printed under the last one. Again same problem.
The changed code:

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;

public class Test_input {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		
		try {
		System.out.print("Enter text here: ");
		BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
		String text = br.readLine();
		
		int length_of_text = text.length();
		
		int counter = -1;
		
		char a = 'a';
		char b = 'b';
		char c = 'c';
		char č = 'č';
		char d = 'd';
		char e = 'e';
		char f = 'f';
		char g = 'g';
		char h = 'h';
		char i = 'i';
		char j = 'j';
		char k = 'k';
		char l = 'l';
		char m = 'm';
		char n = 'n';
		char o = 'o';
		char p = 'p';
		char r = 'r';
		char s = 's';
		char š = 'š';
		char t = 't';
		char u = 'u';
		char v = 'v';
		char z = 'z';
		char ž = 'ž';
		char x = ' ';
		
		
		while (counter < length_of_text) {
				counter += 1;
				
				if (text.charAt(counter) == a){
					File file = new File("a.txt");
		        	String keks = Readfromtext(file);
		        	System.out.print(keks);
		        	}
			
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == b)
					System.out.print("B");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == c)
					System.out.print("C");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == č)
					System.out.print("C");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == d)
					System.out.print("D");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == e)
					System.out.print("E");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == f)
					System.out.print("F");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == g)
					System.out.print("G");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == h)
					System.out.print("H");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == i)
					System.out.print("I");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == j)
					System.out.print("J");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == k)
					System.out.print("K");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == l)
					System.out.print("L");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == m)
					System.out.print("M");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == n)
					System.out.print("N");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == o)
					System.out.print("O");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == p)
					System.out.print("P");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == r)
					System.out.print("R");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == s)
					System.out.print("S");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == š)
					System.out.print("S");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == t)
					System.out.print("T");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == u)
					System.out.print("U");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == v)
					System.out.print("V");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == z)
					System.out.print("Z");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == ž)
					System.out.print("Z");
				else if (text.charAt(counter) == x)
					System.out.print(" ");
				
		}
		
		}	catch (Exception e) {
		}
	}

public static String Readfromtext (File file){
	
	
	StringBuffer contents = new StringBuffer();
    BufferedReader reader = null;
    try
    {
        reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));
        String text = null;

        // repeat until all lines is read
        while ((text = reader.readLine()) != null)
        {
           contents.append(text)
                .append(System.getProperty(
                    "line.separator"));
        }
    } catch (FileNotFoundException e)
    {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (IOException e)
    {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } finally
    {
        try
        {
            if (reader != null)
            {
                reader.close();
            }
        } catch (IOException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
    
    // show file contents here
    return contents.toString();
	
}

}

It is a bit frustrating trying to find the right answer.

EDIT: Again I have only tryed it for letter A. So if i input "aa" it prints out one a under the last one.
Like this:

Enter text here: aa
  **  
 **** 
**  **
******
**  **
**  **
  **  
 **** 
**  **
******
**  **
**  **

[CJSLMAN]

Getting code from the web is great if you understand how it works. In this case, it really doesn't do what you need it to do. I would suggest trying to understand rafaele's posted code (second one). Basically, what it does is:

• create a 2 dimension array (an array that contains arrays)
• Create the letter arrays (tedious chore)
• create a double nested "for" loop:
  
• outer loop is go through the letter's rows
• inner loop is to go throught the selected letter arrays
• print the string of the current row of the current array (don't use println here)
• between the 2 loops insert a println (so the new row can start at the left)

[blacksky]

Thank you guys very much. I have partially solved the problem by using your idea and part of the code :). I have managed to print it out line by line (print the first line of every letter, then the second one, etc.). Unfortunatlly I still don't know how to break line (make space) for instance after the 80th column, then in the next line break it agian after 80th column and so on.

The text prints out like this:

AAAAAAAAAAAA

I would liek it to look like this:

AAAAAA
// space
AAAAAA

How the code looks now:

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;

public class Test_input {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		
		try {
		System.out.print("Vnesite besedilo: ");
		BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
		String input_text = br.readLine();
		
		String lowercase_text = input_text.toLowerCase();
		
		int length_of_text = lowercase_text.length();
		length_of_text -= 1;
		
		char a = 'a';
		char b = 'b';
		char c = 'c';
		char č = 'č';
		char d = 'd';
		char e = 'e';
		char f = 'f';
		char g = 'g';
		char h = 'h';
		char i = 'i';
		char j = 'j';
		char k = 'k';
		char l = 'l';
		char m = 'm';
		char n = 'n';
		char o = 'o';
		char p = 'p';
		char r = 'r';
		char s = 's';
		char š = 'š';
		char t = 't';
		char u = 'u';
		char v = 'v';
		char z = 'z';
		char ž = 'ž';
		char x = ' ';
		
		int heigth;
		int counter;
		
		for (heigth = 0; heigth <= 4; heigth++){
			
		for (counter = 0; counter <= length_of_text; counter++){
		
				if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == a){
					String crkaA[] = {  "  **   ",
										" ****  ",
										"**  ** ",
										"****** ",
										"**  ** "};
					System.out.print(crkaA[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == b){
					String crkaB[] = {  "****  ",
										"**  * ",
										"****  ",
										"**  * ",
										"***** "};
					System.out.print(crkaB[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == c || lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == č){
					String crkaC[] = {  " ****  ",
										"**  ** ",
										"**     ",
										"**  ** ",
										" ****  "};
					System.out.print(crkaC[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == d){
					String crkaD[] = {  "***    ",
										"**  *  ",
										"**   * ",
										"**   * ",
										"*****  "};
					System.out.print(crkaD[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == e){
					String crkaE[] = {  "***** ",
										"**    ",
										"***** ",
										"**    ",
										"***** "};
					System.out.print(crkaE[heigth]);	
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == f){
					String crkaF[] = {  "***** ",
										"**    ",
										"****  ",
										"**    ",
										"**    "};
					System.out.print(crkaF[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == g){
					String crkaG[] = {  " ****  ",
										"**     ",
										"**  ** ",
										"**   * ",
										" ****  "};
					System.out.print(crkaG[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == h){
					String crkaH[] = {  "**  ** ",
										"**  ** ",
										"****** ",
										"**  ** ",
										"**  ** "};
					System.out.print(crkaH[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == i){
					String crkaI[] = {  "*** ",
										"*** ",
										"*** ",
										"*** ",
										"*** "};
					System.out.print(crkaI[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == j){
					String crkaJ[] = {  "   ** ",
										"   ** ",
										"   ** ",
										"*  ** ",
										" ***  "};
					System.out.print(crkaJ[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == k){
					String crkaK[] = {  "**  * ",
										"** *  ",
										"***   ",
										"** *  ",
										"**  * "};
					System.out.print(crkaK[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == l){
					String crkaL[] = {  "**    ",
										"**    ",
										"**    ",
										"**    ",
										"***** "};
					System.out.print(crkaL[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == m){
					String crkaM[] = {  "**   ** ",
										"* * * * ",
										"*  *  * ",
										"*     * ",
										"*     * "};
					System.out.print(crkaM[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == n){
					String crkaN[] = {  "**  ** ",
										"* * ** ",
										"** * * ",
										"**  ** ",
										"**   * "};
					System.out.print(crkaN[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == o){
					String crkaO[] = {  " ****  ",
										"**  ** ",
										"**  ** ",
										"**  ** ",
										" ****  "};
					System.out.print(crkaO[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == p){
					String crkaP[] = {  "****  ",
										"**  * ",
										"****  ",
										"**    ",
										"**    "};
					System.out.print(crkaP[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == r){
					String crkaR[] = {  "****  ",
										"**  * ",
										"****  ",
										"** *  ",
										"**  * "};
					System.out.print(crkaR[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == s || lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == š){
					String crkaS[] = {  " ****  ",
										"**     ",
										" ****  ",
										"    ** ",
										" ****  "};
					System.out.print(crkaS[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == t){
					String crkaT[] = {  "****** ",
										"  **   ",
										"  **   ",
										"  **   ",
										"  **   "};
					System.out.print(crkaT[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == u){
					String crkaU[] = {  "**  ** ",
										"**  ** ",
										"**  ** ",
										"**  ** ",
										" ****  "};
					System.out.print(crkaU[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == v){
					String crkaV[] = {  "**   ** ",
										"**   ** ",
										"**   ** ",
										" *   *  ",
										"  ***   "};
					System.out.print(crkaV[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == z || lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == ž){
					String crkaS[] = {  "****** ",
										"   **  ",
										"  **   ",
										" **    ",
										"****** "};
					System.out.print(crkaS[heigth]);
				}
				else if (lowercase_text.charAt(counter) == x){
					String razmik[] = { "      ",
										"      ",
										"      ",
										"      ",
										"      "};
					System.out.print(razmik[heigth]);
				}	
		}
		System.out.println();
		}
		
		}	catch (Exception e) {
		}
		
	}



}

EDIT: Code translated to english again

[raffaele181188]

Please, post the ouput of your program, so I'll be able to understand you. Also use the CODE tags

[blacksky]

This is what it looks like now.

Output:

Enter text here: abcdefghijklmnop
  **   ****   ****  ***    ***** *****  ****  **  ** ***    ** **  * **    **   ** **  **  ****  ****  
 ****  **  * **  ** **  *  **    **    **     **  ** ***    ** ** *  **    * * * * * * ** **  ** **  * 
**  ** ****  **     **   * ***** ****  **  ** ****** ***    ** ***   **    *  *  * ** * * **  ** ****  
****** **  * **  ** **   * **    **    **   * **  ** *** *  ** ** *  **    *     * **  ** **  ** **    
**  ** *****  ****  *****  ***** **     ****  **  ** ***  ***  **  * ***** *     * **   *  ****  **

I would like the code to print a line or tow of space (ex: "System.out.println()") after the bottom length of chars exced 80 columns.

For instance if every char has a length of 8 chars (it doesn't in my code, i'm just giving an example) taht would mean I could type 10 chars in one line and after taht it woudl make a space and go into a new line.

If you imagine that every of my chars above in the code has 8 chars, that means that char j (in a sequence "abcdefghijklmnop") is tenth and every other char after him goes into a new line.

Example what i would want it to look like:

Enter text here: abcdefghijklmnop
  **   ****   ****  ***    ***** *****  ****  **  ** ***    **
 ****  **  * **  ** **  *  **    **    **     **  ** ***    **
**  ** ****  **     **   * ***** ****  **  ** ****** ***    **
****** **  * **  ** **   * **    **    **   * **  ** *** *  **
**  ** *****  ****  *****  ***** **     ****  **  ** ***  ***  


**  * **    **   ** **  **  ****  **** 
** *  **    * * * * * * ** **  ** **  * 
***   **    *  *  * ** * * **  ** ****   
** *  **    *     * **  ** **  ** **  
**  * ***** *     * **   *  ****  **

;)

[CJSLMAN]

How many letters fit in 80 columns? 8? 9? 10? Whatever the number, just print that many letters and than do a /n (CRLF), and print the next 8-10 characters, etc....

Luck,
CJSL