Member Avatar for javabeg123

i have to create a city application that prompts the user for a series of city names and then displays the number of city names entered and then the name of the city with the most characters in uppercase letters.
how come it always output the last name entered ?

import java.util.Scanner;
 
public class Cities
{
  public static void main(String[]args)
  {
    Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
    int maxLength = 0;
    int length = 0;
    int count = 0;
    String longName = "";
    System.out.print("Enter a city name <stop to quit> :");
    String name = input.nextLine();
     while(!(name.equals("stop")))
    {
    length = name.length();
     if(length> maxLength)
      longName = name;
      System.out.print("Enter another city name <stop to quit> :");
    name = input.next();
    count++;
    }
     System.out.println(count + " were entered" );
    System.out.println("The longest was : " + longName);
 
  }
  • 4 Contributors
  • 5 Replies
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  • 2 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by stultuske

Dani AI

Generated

The observed behavior (always printing the last city entered) is caused by never updating the stored maximum length. As noted, maxLength stays at its initial value so every non-empty name appears longer than zero and replaces longName each time. pointed to the missing assignment that fixes this. Adding a single update when a new longest name is found will stop the overwrite-on-every-iteration problem.

A few other practical issues visible in the original code are worth calling out. The first read uses nextLine() but the loop uses next(); that truncates multi-word cities (e.g. "New York") and can lead to confusing input behavior. The sentinel check uses equals("stop"), which is case-sensitive; equalsIgnoreCase("stop") or trimming and converting the input to lower case avoids missed stops. The requirement to show the result in uppercase is satisfied by printing the stored longest name with toUpperCase(). Also, increment the count at the point a valid city is accepted (after confirming it is not the stop token) to make the logic clearer. Braces around if blocks help prevent accidental mistakes when more statements are added.

A simple, clear flow: prompt and read a full line; trim and check equalsIgnoreCase("stop"); if not stop, increment the counter; compare lengths and, if longer, store the new longest name and update the recorded length; repeat. After the loop, handle the zero-count case explicitly and otherwise print the count and the longest name converted with toUpperCase().

Both approaches mentioned by (store the longest name and compare lengths directly) and the length-plus-name approach are fine; the key is consistent input handling, updating the length-tracking variable when a new maximum is found, and printing longName.toUpperCase() at the end.

Recommended Answers

All 5 Replies

Member Avatar for zeroliken

You don't have a process where you save a new value for maxlength

in your case maxlength should have a value equal to the current city name that has the most uppercase letters

Since the last city name has a length greater than 0 it will output the last city name

Edited by zeroliken because: n/a
Member Avatar for fakerz

Add the following tweak in your while loop and you will be good to go

if (length > maxLength) {
                longName = name;
                [B]maxLength = longName.length();[/B]
            }
Member Avatar for stultuske

or, don't save the length, since you're not really using it:
save the name with the greatest length so far
when you enter a new name:

//... 
counter++;
if ( input.length() > storedName.length())
 storedName = input;
//...
Member Avatar for zeroliken

and fakerz

he needs the name of the city with the most characters in uppercase letters and I don't think using length() alone is enough... well in the codes you presented anyway

Edited by zeroliken because: n/a
Member Avatar for stultuske

as far as I understood: he needs to display the name of the city with the most letters, but he must display it in uppercases.
I might be wrong in this, but then it's to the OP to describe his needs in a way that is clear to anyone.

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