Returning a single string from a method with multiple loops in java

Question

I am a newbie in Java and having difficulty in returning a single string from a method that has multiple for loops, each loop iterating 25 times and returning a pass/fail for each iteration. I'm trying to figure out what to do so if any of the for loops return a "fail" the over all method returns a fail, otherwise it just returns a "pass"? Following is a generic code I have.

    public String myMethod (String string, String string2) {

    for (int i = 0; i < 25 ; i++){
      B = string1 + i + string 2;
      if (B.equals("something"){
        return "Pass";
      }else{
        return "Fail";
    }

    for (int j = 0; j < 25 ; j++) {
     C = string3 + i + string 4;
      if (C.equals("something")){
        return "Pass";
     }else{
        return "Fail";
   }

   for (int k = 0 ; k < 25 ; k++) {
    D = string4 + i + string 5;
    if (D.equals("something")){
      return "Pass";
   }else{
     return "Fail";
  }
  }

There is no string[1345] defined in this code. Without the full code, and how myMethod is called, no help is possible — fge
– fge, Commented Jun 18, 2013 at 16:09

arshajii · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-18 16:18:10Z

if any of the for loops return a "fail" the over all method returns a fail

The for-loops do not return a value. Those return statements within the loops are returning a value for the entire method. This shouldn't really be a problem, however, as you can do something along the lines of

public String myMethod(String string1, String string2) {

    for (int i = 0; i < 25; i++) {
        B = string1 + i + string2;
        if (!B.equals("something"))
            return "Fail";  // we know the entire method should
                            // return "Fail" here
    }

    // other loops, same format

    return "Pass";  // we know nothing returned "Fail" at this point,
                    // so we return "Pass"

}

Note that this short-circuit-esque approach will be more efficient than maintaining a variable with the result of the method, as time will not be wasted continuing the method once we know what its return value should be.

Yogendra Singh · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-18 16:11:33Z

2

Just use one variable with default as PASS. Set the value to FAIL when it fails and return in the end as below:

public String myMethod (String string, String string2) {
   String result = "Pass";
   for (int i = 0; i < 25 ; i++){
      B = string1 + i + string2;
      if (!B.equals("something"){
        result = "Fail";
      }
   }

   for (int j = 0; j < 25 ; j++) {
     C = string3 + i + string4;
     if (!C.equals("something")){
        result = "Fail";
     }
   }

  for (int k = 0 ; k < 25 ; k++) {
    D = string4 + i + string5;
    if (!D.equals("something")){
        result = "Fail";
    }
  }
  //return the final result, which is fail if it fails one ore more times
  return result;
 }

Side Note: Not sure of the declaration of String B, C, D String1..... etc. Take care of them if not already done.

answered Jun 18, 2013 at 16:11

Yogendra Singh

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2 Comments

AllTooSir Over a year ago

Where have you defined string3, string4 etc ?

Yogendra Singh Over a year ago

@TheNewIdiot I don't see his full class code, hence put that as side note.

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