Question

I have this Hangman program that i am working on for school and i cant get the number of wrong guesses to print correctly when the user guesses a wrong letter. Here is my code that i got so far, i would appreciate any tips.

import java.util.Scanner;

public class HangmanTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {

        String[] wordBank = { "madelynn", "crystal", "mcbride", "daughter",
                "adorable", "beautiful", "andrew", "programming", "alyssa",
                "computers", "mcbreezy", "maddy", "happy", "vacation", "beach",
                "java", "benefical", "military", "veteran", "standale",
                "lions", "tigers", "redwings", "pistons", "michigan",
                "football", "baseball", "hockey", "basketball", "golf" };
        int minimum = 0;
        int maximum = wordBank.length - 1;
        String again;

        do {
            int choice = minimum + (int) (Math.random() * maximum);

            String word = wordBank[choice];

            // Converts the random word to asterix
            String userWord = "";
            for (int i = 0; i < word.length(); i++) {
                userWord += "*";
            }

            // Breaks into a bunch of characters
            char[] userWordCh = userWord.toCharArray();

            // Show the random word
            System.out.println("The word for you to guess is " + userWord);

            // instantiate a scanner object
            Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);

            int size = word.length();
            int rightGuesses = 0;
            int wrongGuesses = 0;

            while (size != rightGuesses) {
                System.out.println("Enter a character: ");
                String response = input.next();
                char ch = response.charAt(0);

                char[] wordChars = word.toCharArray();

                for (int i = 0; i < word.length(); i++) {
                    if (wordChars[i] == ch) {
                        userWordCh[i] = ch;
                        ++rightGuesses;
                    } else {
                        ++wrongGuesses;
                    }
                } // end of for loop

                System.out.print("The word is: ");
                for (int j = 0; j < userWordCh.length; j++)
                    System.out.print(userWordCh[j]);

                System.out.println();
            } // end of while loop

            System.out.println("You had " + wrongGuesses + " wrong guesses.");

            System.out.println("Would you like to play again y/n: ");
            again = input.next();

        } while (again.equals("y"));

    }
}

Answer 1

problem is in your for loop. You are iterating over each letter, and for every letter that doesn’t match yours, you mark it as an incorrect guess. It should only be marked incorrect if NONE of the letters are correct. Additionally it should only be marked right if you haven’t marked it already.

import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.ArrayList;

public class HangmanTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {

        String[] wordBank = { "madelynn", "crystal", "mcbride", "daughter",
                "adorable", "beautiful", "andrew", "programming", "alyssa",
                "computers", "mcbreezy", "maddy", "happy", "vacation", "beach",
                "java", "benefical", "military", "veteran", "standale",
                "lions", "tigers", "redwings", "pistons", "michigan",
                "football", "baseball", "hockey", "basketball", "golf" };
        int minimum = 0;
        int maximum = wordBank.length - 1;
        String again;

        do {
            int choice = minimum + (int) (Math.random() * maximum);

            String word = wordBank[choice];

            // Converts the random word to asterix
            String userWord = "";
            for (int i = 0; i < word.length(); i++) {
                userWord += "*";

            }

            String guessedLetters="";
            // Breaks into a bunch of characters
            char[] userWordCh = userWord.toCharArray();

            // Show the random word
            System.out.println("The word for you to guess is " + userWord);

            // instantiate a scanner object
            Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);

            int size = word.length();
            int rightGuesses = 0;
            int wrongGuesses = 0;
            boolean foundLetter;
            char[] wordChars = word.toCharArray();

            guessLoop:
            while (size != rightGuesses) {
                System.out.println("Enter a character: ");
                String response = input.next();
                char ch = response.charAt(0);


                foundLetter=false;
                for (int i=0;i<guessedLetters.size();i++){
                    if (ch == guessedLetters.charAt(i)){
                         System.out.println("Already guessed that letter!");
                         continue guessLoop;
                    }
                }

                guessedLetters+=response;
                for (int i = 0; i < word.length(); i++) {
                    if (wordChars[i] == ch) {
                           foundLetter=true;
                           userWordCh[i] = ch;
                           ++rightGuesses;                            
                    } 
                } // end of for loop
                if(!foundLetter)
                     ++wrongGuesses;
                System.out.print("The word is: ");
                for (int j = 0; j < userWordCh.length; j++)
                    System.out.print(userWordCh[j]);

                System.out.println();
            } // end of while loop

            System.out.println("You had " + wrongGuesses + " wrong guesses.");

            System.out.println("Would you like to play again y/n: ");
            again = input.next();

        } while (again.equals("y"));

    }
}