still throws the same error as before

this works for me:

1.     String[] vals = new String[2];
   
      
       if(vals[1] == null)//and there is something at [1]
       {
         println("ouaich");
       //do something else
       }

would that help ?or do want something else ?

When attempting to read an array element there are three possible reasons that it won't work at runtime

1. the array has been declared but notcreated
2. the array index specified is out of bounds
3. the array element exists but it is null

The code below tests for all three possibilities - comment out some of the lines 3-5 to try different arrays.
 diffenerent lines

1. String[] vals;
2. // Try different arrays by commenting out different lines
3. vals = null;
4. vals = new String[10];
5. vals = new String[] { "A", "B", "C" };
6. int pos = 2;
7. 
   
8. if( !(vals != null && pos >= 0 && pos < vals.length && vals[pos] != null) ) {
9.   println("Invalid element reference elemnt " + pos + " is inaccessable");
10. }
11. else {
12.   println("Ok");
13. }

bizarre. i had some time to work on this little problem/lesson this morning and still had v.k.'s example loaded and it works fine now. as does pauline's. not really sure why now and not yesterday. maybe the first thing to do before posting is restarting Processing (and/or my computer).

so both of you answers worked, and helped.

I will say that Processing is very stable, so it never occurred to me to just restart it. never had problems with it before. well, let's credit this up to an oddity and mark it resolved. thanks for your help.

and quarks; i appreciate the example. i'll be sure to run this, for the sake of science!

thanks again,
shields


ps, in my example it should have read "//and there is nothing at [1]", but all proably figured out what i meant,