Hangman Assignment: Need help revealing the secret word : <p>I have a school assignment and in hangman you reveal the word slowly as the user guesses and I am having trouble with that.</p>

<p><strong>For example, this is what I want (ex. applesauce):</strong></p>

<p>guess: 'a'</p>

<p>display: 'a*****a***'</p>

<p>guess: 'p'</p>

<p>display: 'app***a***'</p>

<p><strong>This is what I currently have:</strong></p>

<p>guess: 'a'</p>

<p>display: 'a*****a***'</p>

<p>guess: 'p'</p>

<p>display: '*pp*******'</p>

<p><strong>Here is my code if it helps:</strong></p>

<pre><code>import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.Random;

public class HangmanAssignment
{  
  static Scanner numIn = new Scanner(System.in);
  static Scanner strIn = new Scanner(System.in);

  // Used to hold the user's previous guesses into a string.
  static StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();

  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    String category;
    int wordLength;
    int position;
    int lettersRemaining;
    int totalLives = 10;
    boolean isGuessInWord;
    StringBuffer prevGuessedLetters;
    String word;
    String displayWord = "";
    char guess;

    category = getCategory();
    word = getWord(category);

    // Gets the length of the word.
    wordLength = word.length();
    lettersRemaining = wordLength;
    System.out.println("The length of your word is: " + wordLength + " characters.");

    // Generates as many '*' as long as word's length and stores it in 'displayWord'.
    for (int i = 0; i &lt; wordLength; i++)
    {
      displayWord += "-";
      // System.out.println(displayWord); /* Testing */
    }

    while (lettersRemaining &gt; 0 &amp;&amp; totalLives &gt; 0) 
    {
      // Prompts user to guess a letter.
      System.out.println("Guess a letter (Note: there are " + wordLength + " letters)");
      guess = strIn.findWithinHorizon(".", 0).charAt(0);

      // Checks if the letter guessed in within 'word'.
      isGuessInWord = (word.indexOf(guess)) != -1;

      // Checks if the guess is in within 'word'.
      if (isGuessInWord == false) 
      {
        totalLives--;
        System.out.println("Sorry, but '" + guess + "' was not in the word."); 

        if (totalLives &lt; 1)
        {
          System.out.println("It seems like you have no lives left! :(");
        }
        else if (totalLives == 1)
        {
          System.out.println("Careful! You only have 1 life left!");
        }
        else
        {
          System.out.println("You still have " + (totalLives) + " lives left!");
        }
      } 

      else 
      {
        System.out.println("Nice one! The letter '" + guess + "' was in the word!");

        for (position = 0; position &lt; wordLength; position++) 
        {
          String newDisplayWord = "";

          for (position = 0; position &lt; wordLength; position++) 
          {
            if (word.charAt(position) == guess) 
            {
              /* displayWord.charAt(position).equals(word.charAt(position)); */
              System.out.print(guess);
              lettersRemaining--;
            } 
            else 
            {
              System.out.print("*");
            }
          } 
        }
      }

      // Holds the user's previously guessed letters and the number of letters in the word that are still unknown.
      System.out.println();
      prevGuessedLetters = buffer.append(guess);
      System.out.println("Previously guessed letters: " + (prevGuessedLetters));
      System.out.println("Letters remaining: " + (lettersRemaining));
      System.out.println("");

      // Checks win/lose conditions.
      if (lettersRemaining == 0)
      {
        System.out.println("Congratulations, '" + word + "' was the correct answer!");
      }
      if (totalLives &lt; 1) 
      {
        System.out.println("Sorry, you lose!");
        System.out.println("The correct answer was '" + word + "'.");
        {
          break;
        }
      }
    }
  }

  public static String getCategory()
  {
    String category;

    System.out.println("=====================================");
    System.out.println("Welcome to the Hangman Game!");
    System.out.println("=====================================");

    while (true)
    {
      System.out.println("Choose from the following categories:");
      System.out.println("1. Car Brands");
      System.out.println("2. Countries");
      System.out.println("3. Animals");
      System.out.println("4. Fruit");
      System.out.println("");
      category = strIn.nextLine();

      if (category.toLowerCase().equals("1") || (category.toLowerCase().equals("one")))
      {
        category = "car brands";
      }
      else if (category.toLowerCase().equals("2") || (category.toLowerCase().equals("two")))
      {
        category = "countries";
      }
      else if (category.toLowerCase().equals("3") || (category.toLowerCase().equals("three")))
      {
        category = "animals";
      }
      else if (category.toLowerCase().equals("4") || (category.toLowerCase().equals("four")))
      {
        category = "fruit";
      }

      if (category.toLowerCase().equals("car brands") || category.toLowerCase().equals("countries") || category.toLowerCase().equals("animals") || category.toLowerCase().equals("fruit"))
      {
        System.out.println("");
        System.out.println("Nice Choice! You have chosen the '" + category + "' category!");
        System.out.println("");
        break;
      }
      else
      {
        System.out.println("Sorry, but '" + category + "' is not a valid input. Try Again!");
        System.out.println("");
      }
    }
    return category;
  }

  public static String getWord(String category)
  {
    String[] carBrandsWord = {"toyota", "ferrari", "honda", "hyundai", "lamborghini", "dodge", "ford", "chevrolet", "fiat", "lexus", "volkswagen", "acura", "audi", "bentley", "bugatti", "buick", "cadillac"};
    String[] countriesWord = {"canada", "england", "france", "switzerland", "australia", "sweden", "greece", "italy", "mexico", "brazil", "india", "china", "russia", "japan", "spain", "ireland"};
    String[] animalsWord = {"cat", "dog", "parrot", "bear", "tiger", "monkey", "zebra", "hippopotamus", "chicken", "horse", "cow", "starfish", "squid", "wolf", "hyena", "cheetah", "penguin"};
    String[] fruitsWord = {"apple", "banana", "orange", "grapes", "grapefruit", "apricot", "cherry", "guava", "kiwi", "mango", "melon", "olive", "pineapple", "strawberry", "watermelon"};

    String word = "";

    if (category.toLowerCase().equals("car brands"))
    {
      Random random = new Random();
      int index = random.nextInt(carBrandsWord.length);
      word = (carBrandsWord[index]);
    }

    else if (category.toLowerCase().equals("countries"))
    {
      Random random = new Random();
      int index = random.nextInt(countriesWord.length);
      word = (countriesWord[index]);
    }

    else if (category.toLowerCase().equals("animals"))
    {
      Random random = new Random();
      int index = random.nextInt(animalsWord.length);
      word = (animalsWord[index]);
    }

    else
    {
      Random random = new Random();
      int index = random.nextInt(fruitsWord.length);
      word = (fruitsWord[index]);
    }

    return word;
  }
}
</code></pre>
