An int[][] array that contains strings? What is this , I don't understand.

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So we have the array below which is an int array yet it contains strings. How is that possible?

int[][] wordSearch = new int[][]{
               {'f', 'd', 'e', 'r', 'l', 'k'},
               {'u', 's', 'a', 'm', 'e', 'o'},
               {'l', 'n', 'g', 'r', 'o', 'v'},
               {'m', 'l', 'p', 'r', 'r', 'h'},
               {'p', 'o', 'e', 'e', 'j', 'j'}

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Nouser

Level 36 , Germany

11 March 2021, 14:22

it contains chars and these are nothing else than unsigned short. Means they fit perfectly into an int (the ASCII code value)

Andrei

Level 41

11 March 2021, 14:26

ok, then why not make the array a char[][] ? I don't quite understand the role of int here.

Nouser

Level 36 , Germany

11 March 2021, 14:35

solution

Would work with a char array as well. That's the decision of the programmer or the one who creates tasks for you. Now you have seen again, that you can use chars to initialize ints.

int n = 'a';
System.out.println(((char) ++n));

No magic. You have the advantage of the 'universal' int but can use letters to setup the array without having to look up every single ASCII code.

Andrei

Level 41

11 March 2021, 14:51

Nice, thanks!

Guadalupe Gagnon

Level 37 , Tampa, United States

11 March 2021, 15:10

I use this all the time to get all the ascii codes of the alphabet without having to look them up. Here is creating a lowercase alphabet array with the ascii codes (handy for not typing it out by hand):

char[] lowerAlphabet = new char[26];
for(int i = 0, x = 'a'; x <= 'z'; x++)
    lowerAlphabet[i++] = (char)x;

System.out.println(Arrays.toString(lowerAlphabet));

Like Amazon the loop goes from 'a' to 'z'