Problems declaring string array.

Question

I am having a problem declaring string arrays in a class that I am writing now. For some reason this code won't work:
public class rotors()
String[] rotor = new String[5];
rotor [0] = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
rotor [1] = "ACEGIKMOQSUWYBDFHJLNPRTVXZ";
rotor [2] = "BDFHJLNPRTVXZACEGIKMOQSUWY";
rotor [3] = "AEIOUYBCDFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXZ";
rotor [4] = "BCDFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXZAEIOUY";
}//end rotorsOn the other hand, this code will:
public class rotors()
String[] rotor={"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ","ACEGIKMOQSUWYBDFHJLNPRTVXZ","BDFHJLNPRTVXZACEGIKMOQSUWY", "AEIOUYBCDFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXZ",  "BCDFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXZAEIOUY"};
}//end rotorsI've noticed that the first code block that I posted will work, but only if I post it in a method, but not just hanging out in the class. Can anyone tell me why this is so? It seems odd to me that the first code doesn't work while the second one does. Thanks a lot
Edited by: archangeleon on Oct 10, 2008 9:13 PM

Answer 1

You can initialize a newly declared variable outside of a method/constructor/initializer block, but you can't call other statements outside of these blocks. The rotor array is declared here: String[] rotor... and can only be initialized (if at all) on this line.