Need help with my code

Hey guys,

Im completely new to coding. I literally started about 3 weeks ago. I haven't done computer science yet so bear with me :)

Code:

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import java.util.Scanner;

public class MainClass {
        public static void main(String[] args){
       
                Scanner sc = new Scanner (System.in);
                boolean input = sc.nextLine() != null;
                System.out.println(input);               
                        if (input = "Hello my friend" != null){
                                        System.out.println("Ahh, hello there!");
                       
                       
                       
                        }
               
        }
}

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This code works but i dont know why.. A bunch of errors showed up before and told me to add the two "!= null". Also I had the variable "input" as a String instead of a Boolean. When i tried to switch it to a boolean before the two "!= null", it said i wasn't aloud to do that.. Can anyone explain this to me? Any help would be appreciated.

sc.nextLine() returns a string, not a boolean. What happens if someone types in "blah", how can that be a boolean value(true/false). If you intend to get a string variable, store it in a String variable. In your code, input is a boolean, "Hello my friend" != null returns true as long as the string is not null. If this makes sense--good. If not ask me to clarify, and I will.

Quote:

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boolean input = sc.nextLine() != null;

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Instead of trying to do two things in one statement, break this statement into two simple statements.
1) get the input
2) test it

Thanks for the help guys :) i changed the variable to a string and then it underlines "input = "Hello my friend" and says i cannot covert it
from a string to a boolean. Can i just simply not have an if statement for a String variable? Is there anyway to go around that? For example, i want the console to respond to the user if he says a certain thing. Sorry if im not making sense.

Check out the .equals(Object o) method. String (Java Platform SE 6)

Can you post the code with the problem?

The following statement has a boolean on the left and a String on the right

Code:

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boolean input = "Hello my friend";

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That doesn't work. You need
either a String variable on the left
or a boolean expression on the right.

Code:

---

import java.util.Scanner;

public class MainClass {
        public static void main(String[] args){
       
                Scanner sc = new Scanner (System.in);
                String input = sc.nextLine();
                System.out.println(input);               
                        if ([U]input = "Hello my friend"[/U]){
                                        System.out.println("Ahh, hello there!");
                       
                       
                       
                        }
               
        }
}

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When posting code, please use code tags: [code] YOUR CODE HERE [/code]

Also, '=' is an assignment operator, comparisons is done with '==' and strings need to be compared with .equals(Object o)

Is there something different besides a string or boolean that i can use? I looked at the .equals (Object o) method. I dont really understand that. It said it was a "superclass" or something...

oh sorry about that :/ i was wondering how to do that haha

Ohhhh hold on i think i know how to fix it..

Alright i fixed it all i had to do was change it from '=' to '=='. Thanks guys!

That is still actually incorrect. For primitives it is fine to use '==' but for strings this compares references--which is not what you want. Instead use equals.

Code:

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string1.equals(otherString)

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Will return true if the two strings are equal.

Hold on ill try that right now

Ok i got it.. I'll look into that area more. Thanks for the help!