Java Scanner class reading strings

Question

I got the following code:

int nnames; String names[];  System.out.print("How many names are you going to save: "); Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in); nnames = in.nextInt(); names = new String[nnames];  for (int i = 0; i < names.length; i++){   System.out.print("Type a name: ");   names[i] = in.nextLine(); } 

And the output for that code is the following:

How many names are you going to save:3  Type a name: Type a name: John Doe Type a name: John Lennon 

Notice how it skipped the first name entry?? It skipped it and went straight for the second name entry. I have tried looking what causes this but I don't seem to be able to nail it. I hope someone can help me. Thanks

Answer 1

The reason for the error is that the nextInt only pulls the integer, not the newline. If you add a in.nextLine() before your for loop, it will eat the empty new line and allow you to enter 3 names.

int nnames; String names[];  System.out.print("How many names are you going to save: "); Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in); nnames = in.nextInt();  names = new String[nnames]; in.nextLine(); for (int i = 0; i < names.length; i++){         System.out.print("Type a name: ");         names[i] = in.nextLine(); } 

or just read the line and parse the value as an Integer.

int nnames; String names[];  System.out.print("How many names are you going to save: "); Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in); nnames = Integer.parseInt(in.nextLine().trim());  names = new String[nnames]; for (int i = 0; i < names.length; i++){         System.out.print("Type a name: ");         names[i] = in.nextLine(); }