# Error when searching through a table
**URL:** https://discourse.processing.org/t/error-when-searching-through-a-table/3118
**Category:** Beginners
**Created:** [August 30, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/error-when-searching-through-a-table/3118 "2018-08-30T15:52:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kat](https://discourse.processing.org/u/kat)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/error-when-searching-through-a-table/3118/1 "2018-08-30T15:52:23Z")
Hi all,
I’m quite new to Processing and I was hoping someone could help me with this problem I have when searching through a table.
I used the control P5 library to make a search bar where the user types words separated by commas. My intention is for each word the user typed in to be searched through a table which was converted from a csv file (using loadTable()) that I added to the data folder of the sketch. If any of the words that the user typed in exists in the table, I want the category to be printed.
For example, if my spreadsheet looks like this, and the user typed in “Whale,Lizard”, I want it to print “Mammal,Reptile”:
This is my code for the search method:
```auto
void Search() {
userInput = cp5.get(Textfield.class, "s").getText();
inputArr = split(userInput, ',');
screen =2;
for (String s : inputArr) {
for (String obj: ingTable.getStringColumn("Name")) {
for (TableRow row : ingTable.matchRows(s, obj)) {
items = items + row.getString("Name");
}
}
}
print(items);
}
```
Every time I run it, I get this error:
controlP5.ControlBroadcaster printMethodError
SEVERE: An error occured while forwarding a Controller event, please check your code at Search
Could someone please explain what’s wrong with my search method?
Thanks!!
---
### Author:  [@GoToLoop](https://discourse.processing.org/u/GoToLoop)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/error-when-searching-through-a-table/3118/2 "2018-08-30T16:17:35Z")
Your table seems confusing to me. 😕
Shouldn’t it be something like this 1 below instead? 🤔
| Mammal | Insect | Reptile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Whale | Fly | Snake |
| Zebra | Bee | Lizard |
| Mouse | Ant | Crocodile |
## “Animals.csv”:
```auto
Mammal,Insect,Reptile
Whale,Fly,Snake
Zebra,Bee,Lizard
Mouse,Ant,Crocodile
```
---
### Author:  [@kat](https://discourse.processing.org/u/kat)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2018, 4:29pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/error-when-searching-through-a-table/3118/3 "2018-08-30T16:29:24Z")
Thank you! That makes more sense.
With that new format however, what do I put in the getStringColumn() method? I previously had getStringColumn(“Name”)
---
### Author:  [@GoToLoop](https://discourse.processing.org/u/GoToLoop)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2018, 6:32pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/error-when-searching-through-a-table/3118/4 "2018-08-30T18:32:26Z")
> [@kat](#):
>
> If any of the words that the user typed in exists in the Table, I want the category to be printed.
- Those category words are the title headers of the Table.
- We’re gonna need 1 loop for each word entry.
- A second 1 to iterate over each TableRow of the Table.
- And a third 1 to iterate over each column of the current TableRow.
- Thus we need a triple loop in order to find out all categories which the word entries belong to.
- In my solution, I’ve defined 3 functions: **findTitles()**, **findElemTitle()**, **titleWord()**.
- **titleWord()** merely capitalizes the 1st `char` of its String parameter.
- **findTitles()** got the outer loop, which calls **findElemTitle()**, passing the current word, and collecting its returned String in a StringList container via the StringList::**append()** method.
- **findElemTitle()** receives the passed word, and has a double loop for the TableRow & its columns.
- Inside its double loop, it calls TableRow::**getString()** and compare it to the passed word via String::**equals()**.
- If they both match, **findElemTitle()** prematurely returns its corresponding TableRow::**getColumnTitle()**.
- If nothing matches after its double loop finishes, an empty String is returned instead.
```auto
/**
* Find Title of Each Word (v1.0.2)
* GoToLoop (2018/Aug/30)
* Discourse.Processing.org/t/error-when-searching-through-a-table/3118/4
*/
static final String FILENAME = "Animals.csv";
static final String ANIMALS = " , whale,liZard, ant, Bee , ";
static final char DELIM = ',';
Table t;
void setup() {
t = loadTable(FILENAME, "header");
println(ANIMALS, ENTER);
final String[] categories = findTitles(t, ANIMALS, DELIM);
printArray(categories);
exit();
}
static final String[] findTitles(final Table t, final String s, final char d) {
if (t == null | s == null || s.isEmpty()) return new String[] {};
final StringList sl = new StringList();
for (final String w : trim(split(s, d))) {
final String title = findElemTitle(t, titleWord(w));
if (!title.isEmpty()) sl.append(title);
}
return sl.array();
}
static final String findElemTitle(final Table t, final String s) {
if (t == null | s == null || s.isEmpty()) return "";
final int cols = t.getColumnCount();
for (final TableRow tr : t.rows()) for (int i = 0; i < cols; ++i)
if (s.equals(tr.getString(i))) return t.getColumnTitle(i);
return "";
}
static final String titleWord(final String s) {
if (s == null || s.isEmpty()) return "";
final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(s.toLowerCase());
sb.setCharAt(0, Character.toUpperCase(s.charAt(0)));
return sb.toString();
}
```
---
### Author:  [@kat](https://discourse.processing.org/u/kat)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 3:41pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/error-when-searching-through-a-table/3118/5 "2018-08-31T15:41:55Z")
Yay it worked!!! Thank you so so much!! I never would’ve figured this out on my own.