need a bit o help

[prof_satch]

ok, so i'm enrolled my first programming course and we finally have to create an actual program. what i'm trying to do in my program is to create a while loop that checks if a variable is not of string type. but like i said, i'm very new at this and i don't really know what the correct syntax would be to do this.

thanks for any help

[javaAddict]

Start by posting what you have written so far

[prof_satch]

import java.util.Scanner;
public class Payroll {
	public static void main(String[] args) {

	Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
	int x;
	x = 1;
	System.out.println("To finish entering employee information, enter 'done' into the first name field.");
	System.out.println("Enter employee " + x + "'s first name.");
	String firstname = input.next();
	while(firstname != " ") {
		System.out.print("you're dumb, enter something new");
		firstname = input.next();

	}
	}
}

what i want the while loop to do is basically re-ask the question if someone inputs numbers or symbols instead of an actual name

[sillyboy]

Don't know if it is the best option, but I would probably write a function to check each character from the user input. So traverse through the user input and check that conditions such as >= a, <=z, are satisfied or whatever you requirements are.

[yilmazhuseyin]

first of all I suggest you learn what scanner class is capable of. Not because you are doing something wrong, but there is a lot of different functions that you can use in that class. here is a link to java specifications. and here is a link to scanner class. every time you use a class check the specifications. there is examples in there. and it tells everything you can do with it.

[Ezzaral]

String.matches("[a-zA-Z]*");
Will return true for a blank field or a string consisting of nothing but letters. You can tailor that pattern to allow spaces, certain punctuation, fail a blank entry, etc. to suit your needs.

[prof_satch]

thanks for the tips guys, i'll try and use what you told me and learn more