Question

I am trying to find the index of a string in a string array using the Arrays.binarySearch() method however the method seems to be return the postion integer “-5” when looking for the string “Free”. Any idea why this would be?

String[] names = {"Arken","Ben","Darklark", "Free","group"};

void changeFriends(String uname, boolean b)
        {   // change a friend's "online" status

    Arrays.sort(names);
    int index = Arrays.binarySearch(names, uname);

    System.out.println("NAME OF ONLINE USER IS AT INDEX:" + index + "Name:" + uname);
        if(index > -1)
        {

             if(b == true)
            {
                loggedOn[index] = true;
            }
            else
            {
                loggedOn[index] = false;
            }
        }
        // call method to update buttons
        changeNameButtons();
    }

Answer 1

Hmm, i just ran your code and i got the index 3.

Arrays.sort(names);
int index = Arrays.binarySearch(names, "Free");
System.out.println(index);

you probably are searching free or Free(with a trailing white space) instead of Free, in which case it returns -5.