illegal start of an expression

[Ben Hultin]

I am putting together this program, when I compiled it I got the same error message over and over again:

Illegal start of an expression

and also:

unexpected character

These are pointing to places in code that I am actually very comfortable with and know that those parts are set up correctly. Maybe someone can find where I have gone wrong in my code?

 
import java.util.Scanner;

public class HultinBenProg5
{
	public static void main(String[] args)
	{
		Scanner stdIn = new Scanner (System.in);
		int countryCode;
		int currentIndex;
		int localNumber;
		String userInput;
		String phoneNumber;
		
		System.out.print("Would you like to enter a phone number? (y to proceed, q to quit): ");
		userInput = stdIn.next();
		
		while (!userInput.equalsIgnoreCase("q")) {
		
		System.out.print("Please enter your country code: ");
		countryCode = stdIn.next();
		
		System.out.print("Please enter your remaining phone number: ");
		phoneNumber = stdIn.next();
		
		System.out.println("Your country code is: " countryCode);
		
		System.out.println("Your area code is: " phoneNumber.subString(0,2));
		
		currentIndex = phoneNumber.indexOf('-');
		localNumber = phoneNumber.subString(currentIndex + 1);
		System.out.println("Your local number is: " localNumber);
		
		System.out.println("Your full phone number is: " countryCode + "-" + phoneNumber);
		
		System.out.print("Would you like to enter another phone number? (y to proceed, q to quit): ");
		userInput = stdIn.next();
		}
		
	}
}

   

I appreciate any help in the matter

[Stefan Brandenberger]

Hi Ben

Well... without having the line-numbers, the error points to, it's much more difficult to find out...

But my guess are these lines (26, 28, 32, 34):

...
System.out.println("Your country code is: " countryCode);  
...          
System.out.println("Your area code is: " phoneNumber.subString(0,2));  
...
System.out.println("Your local number is: " localNumber);  
...           
System.out.println("Your full phone number is: " countryCode + "-" + phoneNumber);  
...

Check them again .

Stefan

[Somnath Mallick]

Could you please print the Stack Trace of the compiler error!

[fred rosenberger]

Ben,

A piece of advice - when you get a compiler error and want to ask about it, please post the WHOLE erorr, exactly as it appears. there's TONS of info there once you learn how to read it. It tells you the line number and sometimes even the position on the line where it thinks the error is. without all that, readers either have to guess where the problem is, or copy your code to their machines and try compiling it themselves.

The easier you make it form someone to help you, the more likely you are to get that help.

[Ben Hultin]

Sorry about the lack of info, on the other hand the suggestions to look over the 4 print lines let me notice I forgot to add the + to append the variable and string together. A lot less errors now, thanks a lot for that.

The ones I am getting now refer to lines: 27 and 30

Says it cant find symbol and refers to the . adding the subString method on both lines

says the symbol is subString method

do I need to import the API class to use it? I thought java.lang was automatically in there

[John de Michele]

Ben:

You need to add plusses (+) in your println() calls after the initial String literals, so

System.out.println("Your country code is: " countryCode); 

should be:

System.out.println("Your country code is: " + countryCode); 

Also, your call to substring() should be in all lowercase. Also, you'll need to adjust your arguments, since a two-argument substring takes the specified beginning character position, up to (but not including) the specified ending character position.

John.

[Ben Hultin]

Ok so here is what I am getting now. I changed the subString to substring, fixed that. I get the error below.

    
G:\Documents and Settings\ben\Desktop\Desktop\Desktop\Ben\park>javac HultinBenPr
og5.java
HultinBenProg5.java:30: incompatible types
found   : java.lang.String
required: int
                localNumber = phoneNumber.substring(currentIndex + 1);
                                                   ^
1 error

I change currentIndex to a String, then I get these errors below

    
G:\Documents and Settings\ben\Desktop\Desktop\Desktop\Ben\park>javac HultinBenPr
og5.java
HultinBenProg5.java:29: incompatible types
found   : int
required: java.lang.String
                currentIndex = phoneNumber.indexOf('-');
                                                  ^
HultinBenProg5.java:30: cannot find symbol
symbol  : method substring(java.lang.String)
location: class java.lang.String
                localNumber = phoneNumber.substring(currentIndex + 1);
                                         ^
2 errors

Not really sure what to make of this: I changed currentIndex to a String from an int to match phoneNumber data type, the reason I have phoneNumber as a String and not an int is because we are suppose to assume there will be dashes in the phone Number. I am guessing int will not accept dashes, so I declared it as a String. Am I wrong here?

My current program looks like this:

   

import java.util.Scanner;

public class HultinBenProg5
{
	public static void main(String[] args)
	{
		Scanner stdIn = new Scanner (System.in);
		int countryCode;
		String currentIndex;
		int localNumber;
		String userInput;
		String phoneNumber;
		
		System.out.print("Would you like to enter a phone number? (y to proceed, q to quit): ");
		userInput = stdIn.next();
		
		while (!userInput.equalsIgnoreCase("q")) {
		
		System.out.print("Please enter your country code: ");
		countryCode = stdIn.nextInt();
		
		System.out.print("Please enter your remaining phone number: ");
		phoneNumber = stdIn.next();
		
		System.out.println("Your country code is: " + countryCode);
		
		System.out.println("Your area code is: " + phoneNumber.substring(0,2));
		
		currentIndex = phoneNumber.indexOf('-');
		localNumber = phoneNumber.substring(currentIndex + 1);
		System.out.println("Your local number is: " + localNumber);
		
		System.out.println("Your full phone number is: " + countryCode + "-" + phoneNumber);
		
		System.out.print("Would you like to enter another phone number? (y to proceed, q to quit): ");
		userInput = stdIn.next();
		}
		
	}
}

 

Thanks a for the help

[Stefan Brandenberger]

Phone number (phoneNumber) as a string is quite ok. And the index (currentIndex) should indeed be an int.

The error lays elsewhere: Look at the return value of the String.substring(...)-method. The variable, you assign the return value to, should be of the same type.

[Ben Hultin]

Thanks for the help, I made the adjustments and read over the sun explanation of substring method. I just have one question.

1. the variable of the return value, is its type suppose to match phoneNumber or currentIndex?

Thanks a lot for your help

[Stefan Brandenberger]

Neither, nor. You assign the return value to localNumber, don't you?

substring()'s return value type is String. The variable you assign this value to must therefore also be a String. D'accord?

[fred rosenberger]

Do you remember the substitution principle from math? if a = b, you can replace every 'a' with 'b', and things are still ok. it's the same in java. When the API says 'this method returns a String', you can effectively treat the method as a String. In fact, you almost HAVE to.

In your code, you wrote this:

localNumber = phoneNumber.substring(currentIndex + 1); 

and we know that 'substring' returns a string. so effectively, we have

localNumber = <some generated string>; 

and localNumber is defined as an 'int', effectively giving this:

  int = String  

You can't assign a String to an int. That is what the compiler is telling you.

[Ben Hultin]

Thanks a lot for all your help, it was the localNumber that needed to be a String. Works great