How to create and return a enum in a method in java

I have a method that should return a enum, however I am not to sure how to code this (it is a activity from my paper). Below is the method (in the class called Maze):

private MazeStatus[][] stringToMaze(String sMaze) {
    String[] splitString = sMaze.split("\n");
    char[][] array = new char[splitString.length][];
    MazeStatus[][] mazeStat;

    for (int x = 0; x < splitString.length; x++) {
        array[x] = new char[splitString[x].length()];
        array[x] = splitString[x].toCharArray();
        for (int y = 0; y < splitString[x].length(); y++) {
            switch (array[x][y]) {
                case '.':
                    mazeStat[x][y] = MazeStatus.VISITED;
                    break;
            }
        }
    }
    return null; // TO DO (Part 1): change appropriately
}

Here is the MazeStatus class:

public enum MazeStatus {
    OPEN(' '), OBSTACLE('#'), GOAL('x'), VISITED('.');

    private char text;

    MazeStatus(char s) {
        this.text = s;
    }

    public char text() {
        return this.text;
    }
}

In the method I have tried creating a enum

MazeStatus[][] mazeStat;

and adding values to it:

mazeStat[x][y] = MazeStatus.VISITED;

But of course it complains about it not being initialized. I do not know how to initialize a enum, especially a bidimensional array enum, without creating the actual Maze object.

You need to define the size of your 2D array, like this:

MazeStatus[][] mazeStat = new MazeStatus[row.length][column.length];

I don't know exactly what the size will be in your case, that's why I've used row.length and column.length. But please replace these with values that make sense in your code.

private MazeStatus[][] stringToMaze(String sMaze) {
    String[] splitString = sMaze.split("\n");
    char[][] array = new char[splitString.length][];

    //this is missing in your code ........
    MazeStatus[][] mazeStat = new MazeStatus[splitString.length][column.length];
    for (int x = 0; x < splitString.length; x++) {
        array[x] = new char[splitString[x].length()];
        array[x] = splitString[x].toCharArray();
        for (int y = 0; y < splitString[x].length(); y++) {
            switch (array[x][y]) {
                case '.':
                    System.out.println("x" + x + " y" + y);
                    mazeStat[x][y] = MazeStatus.VISITED;
                    break;
                default:
                    mazeStat[x][y] = MazeStatus.OPEN;
                    /*
                     *this you have to put accordingly because if default 
                     *condition won't be there then it will take null
                     *values and it will throw NullPointerException
                     */
            }
        }
    }
    return mazeStat; // TO DO (Part 1): change appropriately
}