Chapter 4
Standard Input and Output
Introduction
A stream is required to accept input from the keyboard. A stream represents
flow of data from one place to another place. It is just like a water-pipe where
water flows. Like a water-pipe carries water from one place to another, a
stream carries data from one place to another place. A stream can carry data
from keyboard to memory or from memory to monitor/printer or from memory
to a file. A stream is always required if we want to move data from one place to
another.
Basically, there are two types of streams: input streams and output streams.
Input streams are those streams which receive or read data coming from some
other place (keyboard/ file/Network socket). Output streams are those streams
which send or write data to some other place (monitor/printer/file/Network
socket).
All streams are represented by classes in [Link] (input and output) package.
This package contains a lot of classes, all of which can be classified into two
categories: input streams and output streams.
Keyboard is represented by a field, called in System class. When we write
[Link], we are representing a standard input device, i.e. keyboard, by
default. System class is found in [Link] (language) package and has three
fields. These three streams are created automatically for us as shown below. All
these fields represent some type of stream:
1. [Link]: This represents InputStream object, which by default
represents standard input device, i.e. keyboard.
2. [Link]: This represents PrintStream object, which by default
represents standard output device, i.e. monitor.
3. [Link]: This field also represents PrintStream object, which by default
represents standard output device, i.e. monitor.
Note that both [Link] and [Link] can be used to represent the
monitor and hence any of these two can be used to send data to the monitor.
[Link] is used to display normal messages and results, whereas
[Link] is used to display error messages.
The in, out and err are static variables of System class. System class is stored
in [Link] package which is imported in java program automatically. Static
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member of any class is always access by [Link] member , that why
in, out and err is always written as:
[Link]
[Link] and
[Link]
Figure 4.1
Reading data from keyboard:
There are many ways to read data from the keyboard. For example:
InputStreamReader
Console
Scanner
Command Line Argument
InputStreamReader class:
To accept the data from keyboard, i.e. [Link], we need to connect it to an
input stream as some input stream is needed to read data. Figure 4.2 shows
the working detail.
Connects the keyboard to an input stream object. Here we can use
InputStreamReader that can read data from the keyboard.
InputStreamReader isr=new InputStreamReader([Link]);
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In this statement, we are creating InputStreamReader object and connecting
the keyboard ([Link]) to it.
Connect InputStreamReader to BufferedReader, which is another input
type of stream. We are using BufferedReader as it has got methods to read
data properly, coming from the stream.
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);
Here, we are creating BufferedReader object (br) and connecting the
InputStreamReader object(isr) to it.
In the above two steps, we got BufferedReader object (br). These two steps can
be combined and rewritten in a single statement as:
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new
InputStreamReader([Link]));
Figure 4.2
Now, we can read the data coming from the keyboard using read() and
readLine() methods available in BufferedReader class.
Advantages
The input is buffered for efficient reading.
Drawback:
The wrapping code is hard to remember.
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Accepting a Single Character from the Keyboard
Create a BufferedReader class object (br).
Then, read a single character from the keyboard using read() method as:
char ch = [Link]();
Here, the read() method reads a single character from the keyboard but it
returns its ASCII number, which is an integer. Since, this integer number
cannot be stored into character type variable ch, we should convert it into char
type by writing (char) before the method as:
char ch = (char) [Link]();
if read() method could not accept a character due to some reasons (like
insufficient memory or illegal character), then it gives rise to a runtime error
which is called by the name IOException, where IO stands for input/output
and Exception represents runtime error.
So, when read() method is giving IOException, as a programmer, it is our duty
to do something in case of the exceptions, let us throw this exception without
handling it by writing throws IOException at the side of the method where
read is used.
Program1: Accepting Single character from keyboard
import [Link].*;
import [Link].*;
class Program1
{
public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException
{
String str;
InputStreamReader isr= new InputStreamReader([Link]);
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);
[Link]("Enter the value for A");
char ch = (char) [Link]();
}
}
Accepting a String from the Keyboard
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Observe the statement, where readLine() method is called using
BufferedReader object (br)
String str = [Link]()
Program2: In this example, we are connecting the BufferedReader stream
with the InputStreamReader stream for reading the line by line data from the
keyboard.
import [Link].*;
class Program2
{
public static void main(String args[])throws Exception
{
InputStreamReader r=new InputStreamReader([Link]);
BufferedReader br=new BufferedReader(r);
[Link]("Enter your name");
String name=[Link]();
[Link]("Welcome "+name);
}
}
Output:
Enter your name Amit
Welcome Amit
Another Example of reading data from keyboard by InputStreamReader
and BufferdReader class until the user writes stop
In this example, we are reading and printing the data until the user prints
stop.
import [Link].*;
class Program3
{
public static void main(String args[])throws Exception
{
InputStreamReader r=new InputStreamReader([Link]);
BufferedReader br=new BufferedReader(r);
String name="";
while([Link]("stop"))
{
[Link]("Enter data: ");
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name=[Link]();
[Link]("data is: "+name);
}
[Link]();
[Link]();
}
}
Output:
Enter data: Amit
data is: Amit
Enter data: 10
data is: 10
Enter data: stop
data is: stop
Accepting an Number Value from the Keyboard
Now, let us follow these steps to accept an number(byte,short,int,long,float,
double) from the keyboard.
First, we should accept the integer number from the keyboard as a string,
using readLine() as:
String str = [Link]();
Now, the number is in str, i.e. in form of a String. This should be converted
into an int by using parseInt() method of Integer class as:
int n = [Link]([Link]()) // String to int conversion
Simirlarly
float f = [Link]([Link]()) // String to float conversion
double d = [Link]([Link]())//String to double conversion
long L = [Link]([Link]())//String to Long conversion
short s = [Link]([Link]())//String to short conversion
byte b = [Link]([Link]())//String to Byte conversion
Program4: Accepting and displaying employee details
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import [Link].*;
class Employee
{
public static void main(String args[])throws IOException
{
InputStreamReader r=new InputStreamReader([Link]);
BufferedReader br=new BufferedReader(r);
[Link]("Enter id: ");
int id = [Link]([Link]());
[Link]("Enter Gender (M/F) ");
char gender= (char) [Link]();
[Link](2);
//char gender= [Link]().charAt(0);
[Link]("Enter name: ");
String name = [Link]();
[Link]("Id :" + id);
[Link]("Gender :" + gender);
[Link]("Name :" + name);
}
}
Output:
Reading Input With [Link] class
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There are various ways to read input from the keyboard, the [Link]
class is one of them. The Scanner class breaks the input into tokens using a
delimiter which is whitespace by default. It provides many methods to read and
parse various primitive values.
Commonly used methods of Scanner class:
There is a list of commonly used Scanner class methods:
public String next(): to read a string
public String nextLine():to read a string till the end of the line..
public byte nextByte(): to read byte value.
public short nextShort():to read short value.
public int nextInt():to read int value.
public long nextLong():to read long value.
public float nextFloat():to read float value.
public double nextDouble():to read double value.
public String next().charAt(0): to read a single character
To read input from keyboard, we can use Scanner class as:
Scanner sc = new Scanner([Link])
Now, If the user has given an integer value from the keyboard, it is stored into
the Scanner object (sc) as a token. To retrieve that token, we can use the
method [Link](). Following program will make this concept clear.
Advantages:
Convenient methods for parsing primitives (nextInt(), nextFloat(), …) from
the tokenized input.
Regular expressions can be used to find tokens.
Drawback:
The reading method are not synchronized.
Example of [Link] class:
Let's see the simple example of the Scanner class which reads the int, string
and double value as an input:
Program5:
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import [Link];
class ScannerTest{
public static void main(String args[]){
Scanner sc=new Scanner([Link]);
[Link]("Enter your rollno");
int rollno=[Link]();
[Link]("Enter your name");
String name=[Link]();
[Link]("Enter your fee");
double fee=[Link]();
[Link]("Rollno:"+rollno+" name:"+name+" fee:"+fee);
}
}
Output:
Console class (I/O)
It has been becoming a preferred way for reading user’s input from the
Keyboard. In addition, it can be used for reading password-like input without
echoing the characters entered by the user; the format string syntax can also
be used (like [Link]()).
Advantages:
Reading password without echoing the entered characters.
Reading methods are synchronized.
Format string syntax can be used.
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Drawback:
Does not work in non-interactive environment (such as in an IDE).
How to get the object of Console class?
System class provides a static method named console() that returns the unique
instance of Console class.
Syntax:
1. public static Console console(){}
Commonly used methods of Console class:
1) public String readLine(): is used to read a single line of text from the
console.
2) public String readLine(String fmt,Object... args): it provides a formatted
prompt then reads the single line of text from the console.
3) public char[] readPassword(): is used to read password that is not being
displayed on the console.
4) public char[] readPassword(String fmt,Object... args): it provides a
formatted prompt then reads the password that is not being displayed on the
console.
Example of Console class that reads name of user:
import [Link].*;
class A{
public static void main(String args[]){
Console c=[Link]();
[Link]("Enter your name");
String n=[Link]();
[Link]("Welcome "+n);
}
}
Example of Console class that reads password:
import [Link].*;
class A{
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public static void main(String args[])
{
Console c=[Link]();
[Link]("Enter password");
char[] ch=[Link]();
[Link]("Password is");
for(char ch2:ch)
[Link](ch2);
}
}
OutputStream
Java application uses an output stream to write data to a destination, it may
be a file, an array, peripheral device or socket.
[Link] class:
The PrintStream class provides methods to write data to another stream. The
PrintStream class automatically flushes the data so there is no need to call
flush() method. Moreover, its methods don't throw IOException.
Commonly used methods of PrintStream class:
There are many methods in PrintStream class. Let's see commonly used
methods of PrintStream class:
public void print(boolean b): it prints the specified boolean value.
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public void print(char c): it prints the specified char value.
public void print(char[] c): it prints the specified character array values.
public void print(int i): it prints the specified int value.
public void print(long l): it prints the specified long value.
public void print(float f): it prints the specified float value.
public void print(double d): it prints the specified double value.
public void print(String s): it prints the specified string value.
public void print(Object obj): it prints the specified object value.
public void println(boolean b): it prints the specified boolean value and
terminates the line.
public void println(char c): it prints the specified char value and
terminates the line.
public void println(char[] c): it prints the specified character array
values and terminates the line.
public void println(int i): it prints the specified int value and terminates
the line.
public void println(long l): it prints the specified long value and
terminates the line.
public void println(float f): it prints the specified float value and
terminates the line.
public void println(double d): it prints the specified double value and
terminates the line.
public void println(String s): it prints the specified string value and
terminates the line./li>
public void println(Object obj): it prints the specified object value and
terminates the line.
public void println(): it terminates the line only.
public void printf(Object format, Object... args): it writes the formatted
string to the current stream.
public void printf(Locale l, Object format, Object... args): it writes the
formatted string to the current stream.
public void format(Object format, Object... args): it writes the
formatted string to the current stream using specified format.
public void format(Locale l, Object format, Object... args): it writes
the formatted string to the current stream using specified format.
Displaying Output with [Link]()
To format and display the output, printf() method is available in PrintStream
class. This method works similar to printf() function in C. We know that
[Link] returns PrintStream class object, so to call printf() method, we
can use:
[Link]()
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The following format character can be used in printf():
%s - string
%c – char
%d – decimal integer
%f – float number
%n – new line character
An example of using printf() is given below:
Let's see the simple example of printing integer value by format specifier.
class PrintStreamTest
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
int a=10;
[Link]("%d",a);//Note, out is the object of PrintStream class
}
}
Output:10
Program6
class Program6
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
String s1 = “Hello”;
int n = 65;
float f = 15.1234f;
[Link](“String = %s %n num = %d %n float = %f”, s1,n,f);
}
}
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