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" );
  }
}