Not copying a value, but rather pointing or referencing somehow... I need help

[blazedaces]

Hey guys, I'll try and show a basic program and tell you what I wish it could spit out, and then maybe you'll understand what I want to do, since it's hard to explain.

Here's a simple public static void main(string args[]) {
String s = "hello";
String[] referenceTo = new String[1];

referenceTo[0]=s;
System.out.println(referenceTo[0]); // This will print hello

s="goodbye";
System.out.println(referenceTo[0]); // This will print hello, but I want it to print goodbye
}

Ok, so is there anything I can do so that if I change s, it would be reflected when I tried to call referenceTo[0]?

The only way I can thing of right now is if I have a set method that changes both values like this:
public String setS(String name) { s = name; referenceTo[0]=s; }

But that just seems redundant, I don't know, in C++ there's a simple way of using pointers and references to do exactly what I want, I think it would go something like this:

String s = "hello";

String *p;

p=&name;
value=*p;

cout << value; // prints hello to the screen
name = "goodbye";
cout << value; // prints goodbye to the screen

I could be wrong, but either way, anyone know what I'm talking about and can help me out? Every CS major friend I have seems to not like Java, so they don't know it well enough to answer a question like this...

[JosAH]

Java passes parameters by value, always. Non-primitive variables are just
pointers to 'the real thing'. This means that this:

String s= "hello"; // s points to "hello";
String as= { s }; // first element to as also points to "hello";
s= "good bye"; // s points to "good bye now;
System.out.println(as[0]); // as[0] still points to "hello";

.. never ever changes as[0] unless you change it explicitly.

kind regards,

Jos

[blazedaces]

Java passes parameters by value, always. Non-primitive variables are just
pointers to 'the real thing'. This means that this:

String s= "hello"; // s points to "hello";
String as= { s }; // first element to as also points to "hello";
s= "good bye"; // s points to "good bye now;
System.out.println(as[0]); // as[0] still points to "hello";

.. never ever changes as[0] unless you change it explicitly.

kind regards,

Jos

Thanks for your help.

I guess what I'll do is just have an initiateAS() method which sets all the AS[i] values to what strings I want them to be every time before i use it... best thing I could come up with...

[prometheuzz]

Thanks for your help.

I guess what I'll do is just have an initiateAS() method which sets all the AS[i] values to what strings I want them to be every time before i use it... best thing I could come up with...

Have a look at this snippet:

String[] array = new String[10]; 
java.util.Arrays.fill(array, "hello");
System.out.println(java.util.Arrays.toString(array));
java.util.Arrays.fill(array, "goodbye");
System.out.println(java.util.Arrays.toString(array));

Note that you need Java 1.5+ for this to compile.

[blazedaces]

Have a look at this snippet:

String[] array = new String[10]; 
java.util.Arrays.fill(array, "hello");
System.out.println(java.util.Arrays.toString(array));
java.util.Arrays.fill(array, "goodbye");
System.out.println(java.util.Arrays.toString(array));

Note that you need Java 1.5+ for this to compile.

Thank you, I mean, I realize since I've shown you very little you would have had no way of knowing, but I actually am using like 30+ string values, not one, so fill isn't too helpful. Thanks anyways though... :)