java - Compile Error: Cannot Find Symbol

Question

I am receiving the error cannot find symbol when the code reaches the recursive call for increment and I have no idea why? Here is the code for increment. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

public void increment() {
    Integer first = 0;
    Character ch = num.charAt(num.length()-1);
    Integer last = Character.digit(ch, 10);

    if (num.length() > 1)
    {
        if (last == 9) {
            last = 0;
            if (num.length() >= 2)
            {
            String temp = new String(num.substring(0, num.length()-2));
            temp.increment();
            }
            else
            {
            last++;
            }
        }
    }
    else
    {
        if (last == 9)
        {
            last = 0;
            first = 1;
        }
        else
        {
        last++;
        }
    }

    String t = new String();
    String x = new String();
    t = last.toString();
    x = first.toString();

    if (first > 0)
    {
    num.concat(x);
    }

    num.concat(t);
}

EDIT: I'm really new to java so the more basic you can make your answers, the better. Ok so the error I am receiving is: BigNatural.java.35: cannot find symbol symbol method increment() location: class java.lang.String temp.increment()

And to clear up any other issues here is the whole code.

public class BigNatural {

private String num; 

public BigNatural(String input) {
    num = input;
}


public BigNatural(BigNatural input) {
    num = input.toString();
}

public BigNatural(Integer input) {
    num = input.toString();
}

public BigNatural() {
    Integer i = 0;
    num = i.toString();
}

public void increment() {
    Integer first = 0;
    Character ch = num.charAt(num.length()-1);
    Integer last = Character.digit(ch, 10);

    if (num.length() > 1)
    {
        if (last == 9) {
            last = 0;
            if (num.length() >= 2)
            {
            String temp = new String(num.substring(0, num.length()-2));
            temp.increment();
            }
            else
            {
            last++;
            }
        }
    }
    else
    {
        if (last == 9)
        {
            last = 0;
            first = 1;
        }
        else
        {
        last++;
        }
    }

    String t = new String();
    String x = new String();
    t = last.toString();
    x = first.toString();

    if (first > 0)
    {
    num.concat(x);
    }

    num.concat(t);
}

public void decrement() {
    Character ch = num.charAt(num.length()-1);
    Integer last = Character.digit(ch, 10);

    if(num.length() > 1)
    {
        if(last == 0)
        {
            String temp = new String(num.substring(0, num.length()-2));
            temp.decrement();
        }
        else
        {
        last--;
        }
    }
    else
    {
        if(last > 0)
        {
            last--;
        }
        else
        {
            last = 0;
        }
    }

    String t = new String();
    t = last.toString();
    num.concat(t);
}


public String toString() {
    return num;
}

} public class BigNatural {

private String num; 

public BigNatural(String input) {
    num = input;
}


public BigNatural(BigNatural input) {
    num = input.toString();
}

public BigNatural(Integer input) {
    num = input.toString();
}

public BigNatural() {
    Integer i = 0;
    num = i.toString();
}

public void increment() {
    Integer first = 0;
    Character ch = num.charAt(num.length()-1);
    Integer last = Character.digit(ch, 10);

    if (num.length() > 1)
    {
        if (last < 9) {
                            last++
            }
            else
            {
            last = 0;
            if (num.length() >= 2)
            {
            String temp = new String(num.substring(0, num.length()-2));
            temp.increment();
            }
        }
                    else {
                            last++;
                    }
    }
    else
    {
        if (last == 9)
        {
            last = 0;
            first = 1;
        }
        else
        {
        last++;
        }
    }

    String t = new String();
    String x = new String();
    t = last.toString();
    x = first.toString();

    if (first > 0)
    {
    num.concat(x);
    }

    num.concat(t);
}

public void decrement() {
    Character ch = num.charAt(num.length()-1);
    Integer last = Character.digit(ch, 10);

    if(num.length() > 1)
    {
        if(last == 0)
        {
            String temp = new String(num.substring(0, num.length()-2));
            temp.decrement();
        }
        else
        {
        last--;
        }
    }
    else
    {
        if(last > 0)
        {
            last--;
        }
        else
        {
            last = 0;
        }
    }

    String t = new String();
    t = last.toString();
    num.concat(t);
}


public String toString() {
    return num;
}

}

Answer 1

String has no method called increment. And of course it isn't a recursive call because you are inside an object(which object? in your code there isn't a class definition) , meanwhile you are invoking increment upon a String object.

In addition your temp field is never used. If you want to share it between method calls you can try something like this:

public void increment (String temp){}

and then pass it while calling it:

String temp = new String(num.substring(0, num.length()-2));
increment(temp);

Of course your function can't work like that. temp parameter should be managed inside your increment method. Review your logic. It's no more a matter of syntax. If you can't change the method signature then declare temp as a field of your BigNatural class:

public class BigNatural {

private String num; 
private String temp
......

and inside increment method simply do:

temp = new String(num.substring(0, num.length()-2));