String array to position integers

**azaleah** · 06-26-2012, 11:39 PM

Hi there,

I have an array of Strings. For example String[] ary = {"bob", "mary", "ken"}; .
I'd like to write code that -for each String in the String array- makes an integer which is named after the name in that position and gets it's value assigned to the String's position in the String element.
For example: I want to make integers bob=1, mary=2, ken=3.

my code so far is:
for(int i=0 ; i < ary.length ; i++) int ary[i]=i;

which doesn't work of course... help please!~

**Fubarable** · 06-26-2012, 11:57 PM

You could make a parallel int array,

Java Code:

int[] intArray = new int[ary.length];
for (int i = 0; i < intArray.length; i++) {
   intArray[i] = i;
}

(note that arrays are 0 based, and so this will associate 0 with the first String, not 1).
But this is not an elegant solution as it requires one to always be sure to modify the one array if one modifies the other -- a recipe for future disaster.

Another possible solution is to us a Map<String, Integer> such as that provided by a HashMap<String, Integer> and put the desired int with the String.

Java Code:

Map<String, Integer> myMap = new HashMap<String, Integer>();
for (int i = 0; i < ary.length; i++) {
   myMap.put(ary[i], (i + 1));
}

Another possible solution is to create a class that holds an int and a String, and then create an array of objects of this class rather than one String array and the Map.