I need this program to find the longest word in a String in Java

Question

import java.util.*;
class Exam3
{
      public static void main(String[] args)
{
    Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

    System.out.print("Enter a String: ");

    String word1 = "", word2 = "";
    int l1 = 0, l2 = 0;

    while(sc.hasNext())
    {   word1 = sc.next();
        l1 = word1.length();
        if(l1 > l2)
        {
            l2 = l1;
            word2 = word1;
        }
    }

    System.out.println("Longest Word: " + word2);
    System.out.println("Length of Word: " + l2);
}
}

The code isn't working. Prompting the user is successful, but nothing else happens. If you input a String and press Enter, it goes to the next line, where you can input again, etc. etc.

Possible duplicate: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10490344/how-to-get-out-of-while-loop-in-java-with-scanner-method-hasnext-as-condition — Bijay Gurung, Dec 24 '16 at 04:36
I tried compiling it on an online compiler, and it worked! I have no idea how it isn't working in BlueJ — Vivek Shome, Dec 24 '16 at 04:43
Please look at the above link. Basically, `hasNext()` will continue until you supply an `EOF` character. You might instead want to use a string such as "exit" as your cue to get out of the loop. — Bijay Gurung, Dec 24 '16 at 04:46

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 24 '16 at 05:12

There should be a exit condition in the loop. Please use the following code.

import java.util.Scanner;

public class LongestString {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

        System.out.print("Enter a String: ");

        String word1 = "", word2 = "";
        int l1 = 0, l2 = 0;

        while (sc.hasNext()) {
            word1 = sc.next();

            // type exit finish the loop
            if (word1.equals("exit"))
                break;

            l1 = word1.length();
            if (l1 > l2) {
                l2 = l1;
                word2 = word1;
            }
        }

        sc.close();

        System.out.println("Longest Word: " + word2);
        System.out.println("Length of Word: " + l2);
    }
}

Arpan Sharma · Answer 2 · 2016-12-24T05:56:45.493

This approach worked for me

public class actual {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

        System.out.print("Enter a String: ");

        int largestLength = 0;
        String largestWord = "";
        String a = sc.nextLine();
        for(String b:a.split(" ")){
            if (largestWord.length() == 0) {
                largestLength = b.length();
                largestWord = b;
            } else if (b.length() >= largestLength) {
                largestLength = b.length();
                largestWord = b;
            }
        }
        sc.close();
        System.out.println("Longest Word: " + largestWord);
        System.out.println("Length of Word: " + largestLength);
    }
}

I need this program to find the longest word in a String in Java

2 Answers2