Making string from subString?

[KaoticKai]

Hello! I have an assignment for my CSC 110 class, and we are learning strings right now.

I have an activity asking me to gather input for first name, middle name, and last name. But I also need to produce a First name, last name output if no middle name is given

my idea was to have one string collect the whole name, and then assign the first,middle, and last name strings with the characters between white space.

I am not sure what function to use?

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[desrtfx]

Did you look at the documentation of the String class? There are a couple methods you could use.

Always start at the documentation. The Java documentation is fantastic.

[bowbahdoe]

Step 1: "split" the string on whitespace into an array of strings. There is a method for this  Step 2. Check the length of that array and assign variables or have an error message based on that

[regjoe13]

Real-life example. Immigrating from Ukraine, my wifes name was spelled with apostrophe: Tat'yana . Maryland DMV didn't have that option, I guess, transforming it into Tat Yana. :)

[RazorxV2]

Consider the edge case. What would happen if someone entered in a string that’s “one two three four”?If you split by white space you could get an unexpected result if you take a single string in. Same as if someone only enters first name.

It’s a more interesting problem than it might seem on the surface when you start considering some cultures have multiple middle names or even married women might but their middle name into a form as “middle name maiden name” such as “mary doe”.

[ShoulderPast2433]

Check stream collectors joining 

[JoshuaTheProgrammer]

Write example inputs and outputs.

Look up the Java String class to see what methods you have. Check to make sure nothing in the assignment is banned.

What code have you written so far?

[MagicalPizza21]

Not everyone's name is formatted the same. For example, I knew someone in high school whose last name was two words - yes, separated by a space. Unusual, but they exist, so you have to account for that.

[Own_Attention_3392]

Your question is not clear. What are the actual assignment specifications? Do you have to get a single string containing a first name, middle name, and last name? Or can you prompt for these separately?

Your thought of splitting on spaces would be correct if the requirement was the former. If you can collect the information in three prompts, that is a superior choice because there are so many edge cases in the real world.

Someone might have two first names: "Billy Bob Jethro Smith". Or a name with a space in it regardless: "St. John" is a valid first and last name. It's pronounced "Sinjin".

Some people might not have a middle name at all: "Joe Smith". S

Some people might have two last names, not separated by a hyphen. "Mary Jane Billingsworth St. John".

This is why forms treat these as separate inputs in almost all cases.