[Reading Inputs]-Java Tutorial for Beginners [2020]

where will we read data from?

public static void main(String[] args) {
        /*we have this 'Scanner' class that's defined in 'java.util' package.*/
        /*where will we read data from?*/
        /*Terminal window || file*/
        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
        /*call the 'nextByte' method, see what we get.*/
        byte age = scanner.nextByte();
        /*print it on the terminal.*/
        System.out.println("You are " + age);//implicit casting.
        /*run the program,and see what happens*/
    }

result

21
You are 21

but this’s pretty boring,let’s add a label here

public static void main(String[] args) {

        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
        /*before reading data,we gonna call the 'println' method and say something. */
        System.out.println("Age: ");
        byte age = scanner.nextByte();
        /*but this's pretty boring,let's add a label here*/
        System.out.println("You are " + age);
        /*run the program,and see what happens*/
    }

result

Age:
21
You are 21

System.out.println("Age: ");// add a newline after the label.
/*To solve this issue, we call the 'print' method */

result

Age: 21
You are 21

what if we type a floating number?

result

Age: 21.1
Exception in thread "main" java.util.InputMismatchException

reason&solution

/*because this method - 'nextByte()' can only parse byte values.*/
/*if we want to get a floating number,
we need to call the 'nextFloat()' method.
*/

float age  = scanner.nextFloat();

result

Age: 21.5
You are 21.5

what if we want to read a string?

• we don’t have ‘nextString()’

• first I gonna call the ‘next()’ method.

String name  = scanner.next();

result

Name: shengmin
You are shengmin

this time I gonna type my full name:

Shengmin Zhang

Name: Shengmin Zhang
You are Shengmin

Well,we don’t get the last name.
Here’s the reson.

• every time we cal the method ‘next()’, it reads one token.
• here we have a space

so we need call the ‘nextLine()’ method.

System.out.print("Name: ");
String name = scanner.nextLine();
System.out.println("You are " + name);

Name: Shengmin Zhang
You are Shengmin Zhang

• this nextLine() method returns a string,
• and we store it in the ‘name’ variable.

what if I type a few spaces before my name?

let’s see what happens

Name:       Shengmin Zhang
You are       Shengmin Zhang

• this looks like a little odd.
• this’s where we use the trim() method.
• we can get rid of the all white spaces before or after a string.

System.out.print("Name: ");
String name = scanner.nextLine().trim();
System.out.println("You are " + name);

Name:    Shengmin Zhang
You are Shengmin Zhang

• just before storing the result,
• here we can use the ‘dot’ operator to access the members of this string object .
• so we call the ‘trim()’ method,and then store the result.