What could be wrong here?

Question about the task

Under discussion

So far I tried different combinations of words, including a combination corresponding to the 'if possible' part of the 6th condition. Everything seems to work perfectly fine, but I still don't get the last 2 conditions. One of my theories is that my getLastWord method has an if condition with a return statement in its body. The validator might not accept it, because of the possibility of not returning the actual last word. What do you think, guys? Thanks!

In the main method, read the name of a file that contains words separated by spaces from the console.
In the getLine method, use StringBuilder to order all the words as follows: the last letter of a word must match the first letter of the next word (ignore case).
Each word should be used once.
The getLine method can return any variant.
Separate words with a space.
Display the resulting string on the screen.

Example input file:

Okinawa Washington Auckland Kalamazoo Norfolk

Result:

Washington Norfolk Kalamazoo Okinawa Auckland

Requirements:

The main method must read the filename from the keyboard.
There should not be static fields in the Solution class.
The getLine method must use StringBuilder.
The getLine method must return an empty string (an empty StringBuilder) if it is not passed arguments (words).
The getLine method must not change the arguments (words).
All words passed to the getLine method must be included in the resulting string, if possible.
The screen output must match the task conditions.

package com.codegym.task.task22.task2209; /* Make a word chain */ import java.io.BufferedReader; import java.io.FileReader; import java.io.IOException; import java.io.InputStreamReader; import java.util.ArrayList; import java.util.Arrays; import java.util.List; import java.util.Locale; public class Solution { public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException { // ... BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in)); BufferedReader fileReader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(reader.readLine())); List<String> words = new ArrayList<>(); while (fileReader.ready()) { words.addAll(Arrays.asList(fileReader.readLine().split(" "))); } String[] wordsArr = new String[words.size()]; for (int i = 0; i < words.size(); i++) { wordsArr[i] = words.get(i); } StringBuilder result = getLine(wordsArr); System.out.println(result.toString()); } public static StringBuilder getLine(String... words) { if (words.length == 0) return new StringBuilder(); List<String> wordsList = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(words)); String lastWord = getLastWord(words); StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder(getLastWord(words)); wordsList.remove(lastWord); while (true) { boolean match = false; for (int i = 0; i < wordsList.size(); i++) { String currentWord = wordsList.get(i); if (currentWord.charAt(currentWord.length() - 1) == result.toString().toLowerCase().charAt(0)) { result = new StringBuilder(currentWord + " " + result); wordsList.remove(currentWord); match = true; } } if (!match) break; } return result; } public static String getLastWord(String... words) { boolean match = false; String currentWord = ""; for (int i = 0; i < words.length; i++) { currentWord = words[i]; for (int j = 0; j < words.length; j++) { if (i != j && currentWord.charAt(currentWord.length() - 1) == words[j].toLowerCase().charAt(0)) { match=true; } } if (!match) return currentWord; match = false; } return currentWord; } }

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Guadalupe Gagnon

Level 37 , Tampa, United States

7 October 2021, 13:30

Take the input: Okinawa ZZz Washington Auckland Alexandria Kalamazoo Ottowa Orlando jjj Norfolk when run in the above code it outputs: ZZz I would say that to be a valid return value that the StringBuilder should at least contain 2 words if any connections are available.

Guadalupe Gagnon

Level 37 , Tampa, United States

7 October 2021, 13:45

Another example: zez zaz raz The correct output should contain all the words but the above code only outputs: raz

Level 41 , Sofia, Bulgaria

8 October 2021, 07:05

Thanks, man! I will try to resolve these cases.

Guadalupe Gagnon

Level 37 , Tampa, United States

8 October 2021, 13:41

The way that I solved this was first by finding 2 words that can be linked, that started the result String. Then for every unused word in the list the code would find out if it could be placed anywhere in the result String, in the front, back, or anywhere in the middle. Because adding a word could make it so some of the already tested words now fit, it would repeat this last step until no words were added. Then it returned the result.

Level 41 , Sofia, Bulgaria

13 October 2021, 08:07

So far it works with the suggestions above. I also tried some weird combos, like: 1. nn nn nn nnn nnnn nnnn 2. nn nn nm mn mm mn nm and they work, but yet I don't get to pass the task. What's more interesting, is that I tried the code from the solution and all suggestions from above (including the ones I mentioned) are returning empty string.