Finding word position in a string for java

Question

I have looked around for another answer on here, but i didn't really understand how to convert it to my own code. I am trying to find where "COUNTRY" is found in a phrase so:

String word = "COUNTRY";
String sentence = "ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOU COUNTRY";

It should output that the word is in the 5th and 17th positions.

Many Thanks

EDIT: I realised that it also need to ignore the case. Sorry for not saying this sooner

What have you tried? HINT: split the string into an array of strings, one string for each word. — NickJ, Jun 14 '16 at 13:27
regex and matcher and group find should be part of your thinking. — duffymo, Jun 14 '16 at 13:29
regex and matcher and group would be like trying to teach calculus before addition and subtraction. — NickJ, Jun 14 '16 at 13:30
@NickJ I have tried using a loop and i did some things with case ignore - but it doesn't see to work well — Darrkwolf, Jun 20 '16 at 14:22
@Darrkwolf "it doesn't seem to work well" - that's a little vague — NickJ, Jun 21 '16 at 09:34

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 14 '16 at 13:28

1

You can use this piece of code:

public static void main(String args[]) {
    String word = "COUNTRY";
    String sentence = "ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOU COUNTRY";
    String[] listWord = sentence.split(" ");
    for (int i = 0; i < listWord.length; i++) {
        if (listWord[i].equals(word)) {
            System.out.println(i+1);
        }
    }
}

answered Jun 14 '16 at 13:28

Youcef LAIDANI

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Thanks for this- though is there a way to ignore the case on the your awnser – Darrkwolf Jun 20 '16 at 14:20
what did you mean by : is there a way to ignore the case on the your awnser ? – Youcef LAIDANI Jun 21 '16 at 07:17
I mean is there a way for if the word to find was just country then it would still work – Darrkwolf Jun 21 '16 at 16:45
you can add after the if a break(); – Youcef LAIDANI Jun 21 '16 at 17:26

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

If you only want to check if a String contains a Word then you can use the .contains(""); method provided by String

String word = "COUNTRY";
String sentence = "ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOU COUNTRY";
    
System.out.println(sentence.contains(word));
//will return true;

If you want to find all the words inside the sentence then use this:

String word = "COUNTRY";
String sentence = "ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOU COUNTRY";
    
if (sentence.contains(word)) {
    String[] sentenceWords = sentence.split(" ");

    for (String wordInSentence : sentenceWords) {
        if (wordInSentence.equals(word)) {
            System.out.println(wordInSentence);
        }
    }
}

Or if you want to know the exact location of a specific word, then try this:

String word = "COUNTRY";
String sentence = "ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOU COUNTRY";
    
if (sentence.contains(word)) {
    String[] sentenceWords = sentence.split(" ");
        
    for (int i = 0; i < sentenceWords.length; i++) {
        if (sentenceWords[i].equals(word)) {
            System.out.println(word + " is located as the: " + i + "th string");
        }
    }
}

Note: See that i use .equals(); on String objects see this post for more information!

EDIT:

To ignore the case you can use String.equalsIgnoreCase() instead of String.equals()

Thanks for this- though is there a way to ignore the case on the your last awnser — Darrkwolf, Jun 20 '16 at 14:20

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 20 '16 at 15:32

Better use this functions present in java.lang.*,ie in String class.It is non Static...

int indexOf(String str) Returns the index within this string of the first occurrence of the specified substring. int indexOf(String str, int fromIndex) Returns the index within this string of the first occurrence of the specified substring, starting at the specified index.

String s1="Hello I love my country,i belong to my country",s2="country";
System.out.println( s1.indexOf(s2));

Finding word position in a string for java

3 Answers3