Java- About strings

Question

I am doing some validation using simple Java, I am coding as below

if (something.equals("ABC"))

      expectedvalue = "TEST1";

else if(something.equals("DEF"))

      expectedvalue = "TEST5";

// and so on....

My issue here is that, if something.equals("ABC"), expectedvalue can be any of these two values -> "TEST1" or "TEST2"

During validation, in the output, I do not get error if I give "TEST1" for expectedvalue. It should do the same even if I give "TEST2". How to do that?

Can you elaborate what do you mean? You should return a random expected value between 1 and 2? — Jose Sutilo, Aug 02 '13 at 17:35
possible duplicate of [How do I compare strings in Java?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/513832/how-do-i-compare-strings-in-java) — djangofan, Aug 02 '13 at 17:35
About 90% of programming is knowing how to recognize what the question is and describe it clearly. — Hot Licks, Aug 02 '13 at 17:39
Right now your code is saying if 'something' is 'ABC' then set 'expectedValue' to 'TEST1'...what you are asking doesn't match your code — orangegoat, Aug 02 '13 at 17:46
You are right, right now it says so, but i would like to code so that-> if 'something' is 'ABC' then set 'expectedValue' to 'TEST1' or 'TEST2' — user2505867, Aug 02 '13 at 17:54

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 02 '13 at 17:33

2

You have to have a Set of allowed values.

Set<String> allowed = new HashSet<String>();
allowed.put("TEST1");
allowed.put("TEST2");

//and then you can use this set
if (allowed.contains(yourValueToCheck)) {
    // do what you need

Also note that it is safer to compare strings like this:

if ("ABC".equals(something)) // to protect yourself from NullPointerExceptions

answered Aug 02 '13 at 17:33

Tala

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I tend to stay away from yoda conditions with strings. If my string is null, I want to know about it! – arshajii Aug 02 '13 at 17:39
1

you will know about it by your app being crashed. The other way to know about it is just check if it is null or not and handle error case yourself without breaking the app – Tala Aug 02 '13 at 17:42
A NullPointerException is almost always a sign that something has gone wrong earlier in the program, and that we're no longer in a reliable state. Allowing the exception to be thrown and crash the application earlier gives us the opportunity to fix the real bug. Attempting to hobble along when the application has already failed just gives us the chance to compound the damage. – Ian McLaird Aug 02 '13 at 18:02
In many cases I've worked with NULL was a legal value (meaning attribute or some flag wasn't set) – Tala Aug 03 '13 at 06:19

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 02 '13 at 17:34

0

Perhaps you could change your test to test with an OR statment?

if(expectedvalue.equals("TEST1") || expectedvalue.equals("TEST2"))
     .....

answered Aug 02 '13 at 17:34

Xynariz

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If should not error if the expectedvalue is either of TEST1, TEST2...not a comparision – user2505867 Aug 02 '13 at 17:37
That's what this does - In English, it says "If the expectedvalue is TEST1, or if the expectedvalue is TEST2, then do this" – Xynariz Aug 02 '13 at 17:39
but i would like to code so that-> if 'something' is 'ABC' then set 'expectedValue' to 'TEST1' or 'TEST2' – user2505867 Aug 02 '13 at 17:56

Java- About strings

2 Answers2