Sounds like a counting loop.
Here is a skeleton of the program:
class Searcher { // seek target in the array of strings. // return the index where found, or -1 if not found. public static int search( ____________ array, ____________ target ) { . . . . . . // implement linear search } } class SearchTester { public static void main ( String[] args ) { final int theSize = 20 ; String[] strArray = new String[ theSize ] ; . . . . . . // put values into strArray // call the static search method int where = Searcher.search( strArray, "Peoria" ); if ( where >= 0 ) System.out.println("Target found in slot " + where ); else System.out.println("Target not found" ); } }