hangman

[javaMike]

i'm trying to create a simple version of hangman w/out using array/arraylist.

my code is attached works but would like to be able to change value of a string character position w/out having to use a "dummy" string (answer).

my code ask user to enter a word.

then draws blank for each char

when user enters a letter use a loop to find it in the string but...
would like to be able to do something like
word (i) = guess; which obviously you cannot do.

is there a way to directly overwrite the char stored in a certain postion in a string?

[pbrockway2]

Consider using a StringBuilder which is mutable. Ie you can do things like:

StringBuilder foo = new StringBuilder("foo");
foo.setCharAt(1, '_');
System.out.println(foo);

[JosAH]

This hangman question is asked so often that I decided to implement it myself and post it as a complete spoonfeeding spoiler; all the work is done by the regular expression engine (no ArrayLists, no loops, no arrays, no character comparisons, no nothing):

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

public class HangMan {
	
	private BufferedReader br= new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
	private String correct, used, word;
	private int turns;
	
	private void setup(String w, int turns) {

		correct= "-"; used= ""; word= w;
		this.turns= turns;
	}
	
	private String word(String prompt) {
		
		String word= this.word.replaceAll("[^"+correct+"]", "-");
		System.out.println(prompt+": "+word);
		return word;
	}
	
	private boolean wins(String word) {
		
		boolean wins= word.indexOf('-') < 0;
		
		if (wins)
			System.out.println("You guessed the word");
		return wins;
	}
	
	private String guess(char x) {
		
		if (used.indexOf(x) >= 0) 
			return word("Character '"+x+"' already used");
		
		used+= x;
		
		if (word.indexOf(x) < 0) {
			turns--;
			return word("Character '"+x+"' is incorrect");
		}
		
		correct+= x;
		
		return word("Character '"+x+"' is correct");
	}
	
	private char input() {
		
		String s= "";
		try {
			for (; (s= s.trim()).length() == 0; s= br.readLine()) 
				System.out.print("Guess a character: ");
		} catch (IOException ioe) { System.exit(1); }
		
		return s.charAt(0);
	}
	
	public boolean play(String word) {
		
		for (setup(word, word.length());; System.out.println("turns: "+turns)) 
			if (wins(guess(input()))) 
				return true;
			else if (turns == 0) {
				System.out.println("You lose");
				return false;
			}
	}
	
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		
		new HangMan().play("defenestration");
	}
}

kind regards,

Jos