For loop that takes user input 5 times

Question

I was to make a for loop that repeats 5 times. Each time it asks you to enter a grade, takes your input using System.in.read();, then says what you entered. For some reason the output looks strange and it isn't working right. The output looks like this:

• Enter a letter grade for your class
• (the letter you enter ex. a)
• Grade entered = a
• Enter a letter grade for your class
• Grade entered =

the above repeats 3 times then ends with the "thanks, keep up the good work!" line ^

The output should look like

• Enter a letter grade for your class
• (entered letter ex. b)
• Grade entered = b

And it does this 5 times ^

Sorry if it isn't indented properly or the solution is obvious, new to programming.

   char g; 
        {                           
        for (int x = 0; x < 5; x++) {
        System.out.println("Enter a letter grade for your class"); 
        g = (char) System.in.read();
        System.out.println("Grade entered = " + g); }
    System.out.println("Thanks, keep up the good work!");   }

Answer 1

Some points regarding your code. Firstly, format it correctly. Your problem currently is that your for-loop is only running for the System.out.println statement, and the rest is ignored. Don't omit brackets when you write for-loops, its not a very good habit. Since this is homework, I will not give you the code, but I will give you the code structure:

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        for (int x = 0; x < 5; x++) { //looping 5 times
            System.out.println("Enter a letter grade for your class"); //print statement
            //code here to get character
            System.out.println("Grade entered = " + g);
        }
        //print final statement outside the for-loop.
        System.out.println("Thanks, keep up the good work!"); 
    }
}

Next point: I would not recommend using System.in.read() for reading the input from the console. Reason for this, is because it will include the carriage return when you press 'Enter' - you would need to specifically look out for that in your code. In order to avoid this, use a Scanner , and get the first character of the returned Scanner string using charAt(0) .