JavaScript string generator not working

Question

I'm new to javascript so don't judge me please :)

I have a real basic string generator, but it isn't working the way I want it to, it prints a 1 letter string (e.g "c") rather than a multi-letter string

var alphabet = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
for (var i=0;i<alphabet.length;i++) {
 var news = "";
 news = news + alphabet[Math.floor(Math.random() * alphabet.length)]
 if (i == alphabet.length - 1) {
 console.log(news)
 }
}

• jfriend00: Please indent your code properly when posting here.

Answer 1

You have to declare and initialize the variable news outside the for loop. Declaring is not a problem when we use var to do that, because it will be hoisted to the top. But initialization is important. That has to be outside the for loop.

var alphabet="abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
var news="";
for (var i=0;i<alphabet.length;i++) {
 news=news+alphabet[Math.floor(Math.random()*alphabet.length)]
 if (i==alphabet.length-1) {
 console.log(news)
 }
}

Answer 2

Minor mistake. Just define var news = ''; outside for loop. (Also, use semicolons).

var alphabet="abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
var news="";
for (var i=0;i<alphabet.length;i++) {
 news=news+alphabet[Math.floor(Math.random()*alphabet.length)]
 if (i==alphabet.length-1) {
 console.log(news)
 }
}