tricky indexOf implementation -- Help!!

[definewebsites]

Hi there,

I am implementing the indexOf method of the string class to check whether a string value exists in another as in the code below:

Code:

String str = "9,10,11,12";
String isIn = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please enter a number");
 
int x = str.indexOf(isIn);
 
if(x != -1)
{
    System.out.println("Not in");
}
else
{
    System.out.println("in");
}

The problem here is that if the user enters "1", 1 is in the string as the number 11. How would I be able to write the code such that it can differentiate between 1 and 11? I have thought about it and I just cannot figure out how it can be done. I am new to java and I would appreciate some assistance in this regard.

Thanks

[ShoeNinja]

You could just check the character right after the 1 that you find and make sure it isn't a 1 as well.

Code:

int i = String.indexOf("1");
if( i != -1 && !String.charAt(i).equals("1")){

}

You could also do an indexOf("1") and an indexOf("11") and compare them. If they are the same then you have 11 and not 1.

The problem with these solutions is that they are very specific. I would probably write my own method using the first technique. I would pass it the character to look for and it would return the position only if the character was repeated.

[hardwired]

Code:

String str = "9,10,11,12";
String isIn = " ";
do {
    isIn = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please enter a number");
    if(isIn == null) break;

    int x = str.indexOf(isIn);

    boolean confirmed = false;
    if(x != -1) {
        boolean hasLeadingComma = x > 0 && str.charAt(x-1) == ',';
        boolean hasTrailingComma = x < str.lastIndexOf(",") &&
            str.charAt(x + isIn.length()) == ',';
        boolean isFirst = x == 0 && hasTrailingComma;
        boolean isLast = x > str.lastIndexOf(",") && hasLeadingComma;
        confirmed = isFirst || isLast ||
            (hasLeadingComma && hasTrailingComma);
    }

    if(confirmed) {
        System.out.println("Found " + isIn + " at index " + x);
    } else {
        System.out.println(isIn + " not found, x = " + x);
    }
} while(isIn.length() > 0);

[definewebsites]

Thanks alot for your assistance, I do appreciate all the help that has been offered..