understanding this basic loop

[Andrew Concilio]

hi guys
I am new to the site as well as programming with java. can anybody kindly help me explain the mechanics of the below code.

public class pyramid {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      for (int i = 20, k = 0; i > 0 && k < 20; i--, k++) {
         for (int j = 0; j < i; j++) {
            System.out.print(" ");
         }
         for (int j = 0; j < k; j++) {
            System.out.print("*");
         }
         for (int j = 1; j < k; j++) {
            System.out.print("*");
         }
         System.out.println();
      }
   }
}

                   *
                  ***
                 *****
                *******
               *********
              ***********
             *************
            ***************
           *****************
          *******************
         *********************
        ***********************
       *************************
      ***************************
     *****************************
    *******************************
   *********************************
  ***********************************
 *************************************

basically here are my questions
1- I understand why I need to use I for my loop as the loop will go around 20 times but I am not sure how k and J helped me create this pyramid.
2- it looks like this code only works with one character "*" because if I try to replace the star with a string, name or two or more character I will get a different shape. how can I modify my code so it will give me an exact pyramid regardless of what I type on the System.out.print
Thanks

[Bear Bibeault]

Please do not post the same question more than once.

[milan chovatiya]

just try to understand for loop and trace it in paper you will get it....try it on yourself because thats the way you will get it

[Wayan Saryada]

Andrew Concilio wrote:
2- it looks like this code only works with one character "*" because if I try to replace the star with a string, name or two or more character I will get a different shape. how can I modify my code so it will give me an exact pyramid regardless of what I type on the System.out.print

Take a closer look at your first loop that print a single space. This correspond to the single character that you use to draw the pyramid. If you change the length of the character to draw the pyramid then you also have to add some more spaces in that loop to make it a good pyramid.