Java Scanner class reading strings

Question

I got the following code:

int nnames;
String names[];

System.out.print("How many names are you going to save: ");
Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
nnames = in.nextInt();
names = new String[nnames];

for (int i = 0; i < names.length; i++){
  System.out.print("Type a name: ");
  names[i] = in.nextLine();
}

And the output for that code is the following:

How many names are you going to save:3 
Type a name: Type a name: John Doe
Type a name: John Lennon

Notice how it skipped the first name entry?? It skipped it and went straight for the second name entry. I have tried looking what causes this but I don't seem to be able to nail it. I hope someone can help me. Thanks

Answer 1

The reason for the error is that the nextInt only pulls the integer, not the newline. If you add a in.nextLine() before your for loop, it will eat the empty new line and allow you to enter 3 names.

int nnames;
String names[];

System.out.print("How many names are you going to save: ");
Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
nnames = in.nextInt();

names = new String[nnames];
in.nextLine();
for (int i = 0; i < names.length; i++){
        System.out.print("Type a name: ");
        names[i] = in.nextLine();
}

or just read the line and parse the value as an Integer.

int nnames;
String names[];

System.out.print("How many names are you going to save: ");
Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
nnames = Integer.parseInt(in.nextLine().trim());

names = new String[nnames];
for (int i = 0; i < names.length; i++){
        System.out.print("Type a name: ");
        names[i] = in.nextLine();
}