if else statements returning null with boolean operator

Question

this is my first time making a question so I'm not sure if my title is correct at all because I'm pretty new to java... basically my program is returning all null during the changeNameFormat method when there is no space in the name but what I want it to do is to print out "You do not have a space in your name" and then move onto the next method. Currently my code is as follows, and logically to me at least it makes sense, but I'm no expert.

import java.util.*;

public class Lab11 {

    static String name, first, last, word;
    static boolean space;

    public static void main(String [] args) {
        Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
        System.out.println("Input your name: ");
        name = input.nextLine();
        changeNameFormat();
        if (space = true) {
            System.out.println("Your name is : " + first + " " + last);
            System.out.println("Your first name is : " + first);
            System.out.println("Your last name is : " + last);
        }
        else {
            System.out.println("Your name contains no spaces");
        }
        System.out.println("Input word for palindrome test: ");
        word = input.nextLine();
        if (palindrome(word)) {
            System.out.println(word + " is a palindrome");
        }
        else {
            System.out.println(word + " is NOT a palindrome");
        }
    }

    public static void changeNameFormat() {
        if (name.contains(" ")) {
            String [] split = name.split(" ", 2);
            first = split[0];
            String last = split[1];
            space = true;
        }
        else {
            space = false;
        }
    }

    public static boolean palindrome(String w) {
        System.out.println("Checking if " + word + " is a palindrome.");
        System.out.println("... Loading...");
        String reverse = "";
        for (int i = w.length() - 1 ; i >= 0 ; i--) {
            reverse = reverse + w.charAt(i);
        }
        if (w.equalsIgnoreCase(reverse)) { // case insensitive check
            return true;
        }
        else {
            return false;
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

A very small mistake out of negligence.

You have used a single equals assignment operator (=), which assigns true to space. If you want to check whether space is true, you need the double equals comparison operator (==):

if (space == true)

Note that a better, more idiomatic way of writing this is:

if (space)

Also your ChangeNameFormat() method localizes the last variable, in case you haven't noticed.