Here's what I ended up with: (it works great)

java Code:
  1. class program {
  2.  
  3.    public static void main (String[] args) {
  4.  
  5.       String a = "";
  6.       String b = "";
  7.       String c = "";
  8.  
  9.       if (args.length > 0 && args.length < 2) {
  10.          a = args[0];
  11.          System.out.println(a);
  12.       }
  13.       if (args.length > 1 && args.length < 3) {
  14.          a = args[0];
  15.          b = args[1];
  16.          System.out.println(a);
  17.          System.out.println(b);
  18.       }
  19.       if (args.length > 2 && args.length < 4) {
  20.          a = args[0];
  21.          b = args[1];
  22.          c = args[2];
  23.          System.out.println(a);
  24.          System.out.println(b);
  25.          System.out.println(c);
  26.       }
  27.       if (args.length > 3 || args.length < 1) {
  28.          System.out.println("Enter only 1, 2, or 3 arguments!");
  29.       }
  30.    }
  31. }

anything you see that i did wrong (or inefficiently)?

thanks for the help.