of course works

I tested it, it worked for sure:

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String str = "hellllllloooo";
        System.out.println(clever(str));
        String str1 = "hi";
        System.out.println(clever(str1));
        String str2 = "";
        System.out.println(clever(str2));

    }
 
 #########oooo
hi


    

do not retreat and do not give up

We all get there at some point, and you have to admit that for a 7 Kyu this was quite tricky in practice

3 days is a bit long ;)

where are you from? your nickname seems familiar.

This kata wonts you to Return, for each word, the number of letters that occupy the same positions as in the alphabet.

This kata expects these results:
.....
.....
10>10
9>10
8>10
7>10
6>10
5>5
4>5
3>5
2>5
1>5
0>0
-1>0
-2>0
-3>0
-4>0
-5>-5
-6>-5
-7>-5
-8>-5
-9>-5
-10>-10
-11>-10
.....
.....
etc...

spent three days. it was hard. I writed on the paper the steps - this helped me

A good one. Thank you

Those are two different cases and you should read this note:

Note: the list may be null and can hold any type of value.

There is your problem.

what should I learn to be able to write code for this kata?

The kata says that my poem is not a copy of the kata's poem. But it IS. My poem looks exactly same and I cheked for extra spaces - but it is perfect. One guy bellow sayd the the kata exepts only if in your code you type "1 buttles" instead of "1 buttle"... do not know what to say... Please help me

Are you talking about this part?
" 1 bottle of beer on the wall.
1 bottle of beer on the wall, 1 bottle of beer."
Do we need to write "1 bottles" istead of "1 bottle"?