[java] Java: Reading a file into an array

I have a file (called "number.txt") which I want to read to an array in Java. How exactly do I go ahead and do this? It is a straight-forward "1-dimensional" file, containing 100 numbers.

The problem is that I get an exception every time. Apparently it can't find it (I am sure its spelled correctly). When looking through code examples, it doesn't specify the file's entire file path, only the name of the file itself. How would I go about doing that if its necessary?

Also, when reading the file, will the array automatically contain all the lines of the file, or will I have to make a loop which which copies every line to corresponding subscript i?

I've heard of BufferedReader class, what it's purpose, and how does it corelate to reading input?

This question is related to java arrays

The answer is


You should be able to use forward slashes in Java to refer to file locations.

The BufferedReader class is used for wrapping other file readers whos read method may not be very efficient. A more detailed description can be found in the Java APIs.

Toolkit's use of BufferedReader is probably what you need.


Here is some example code to help you get started:

package com.acme;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class FileArrayProvider {

    public String[] readLines(String filename) throws IOException {
        FileReader fileReader = new FileReader(filename);
        BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(fileReader);
        List<String> lines = new ArrayList<String>();
        String line = null;
        while ((line = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null) {
            lines.add(line);
        }
        bufferedReader.close();
        return lines.toArray(new String[lines.size()]);
    }
}

And an example unit test:

package com.acme;

import java.io.IOException;

import org.junit.Test;

public class FileArrayProviderTest {

    @Test
    public void testFileArrayProvider() throws IOException {
        FileArrayProvider fap = new FileArrayProvider();
        String[] lines = fap
                .readLines("src/main/java/com/acme/FileArrayProvider.java");
        for (String line : lines) {
            System.out.println(line);
        }
    }
}

Hope this helps.


You should be able to use forward slashes in Java to refer to file locations.

The BufferedReader class is used for wrapping other file readers whos read method may not be very efficient. A more detailed description can be found in the Java APIs.

Toolkit's use of BufferedReader is probably what you need.


import java.io.File;

import java.nio.charset.Charset;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Path;

import java.util.List;

// ...

Path filePath = new File("fileName").toPath();
Charset charset = Charset.defaultCharset();        
List<String> stringList = Files.readAllLines(filePath, charset);
String[] stringArray = stringList.toArray(new String[]{});

Apache Commons I/O provides FileUtils#readLines(), which should be fine for all but huge files: http://commons.apache.org/io/api-release/index.html. The 2.1 distribution includes FileUtils.lineIterator(), which would be suitable for large files. Google's Guava libraries include similar utilities.


Here is some example code to help you get started:

package com.acme;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class FileArrayProvider {

    public String[] readLines(String filename) throws IOException {
        FileReader fileReader = new FileReader(filename);
        BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(fileReader);
        List<String> lines = new ArrayList<String>();
        String line = null;
        while ((line = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null) {
            lines.add(line);
        }
        bufferedReader.close();
        return lines.toArray(new String[lines.size()]);
    }
}

And an example unit test:

package com.acme;

import java.io.IOException;

import org.junit.Test;

public class FileArrayProviderTest {

    @Test
    public void testFileArrayProvider() throws IOException {
        FileArrayProvider fap = new FileArrayProvider();
        String[] lines = fap
                .readLines("src/main/java/com/acme/FileArrayProvider.java");
        for (String line : lines) {
            System.out.println(line);
        }
    }
}

Hope this helps.


You should be able to use forward slashes in Java to refer to file locations.

The BufferedReader class is used for wrapping other file readers whos read method may not be very efficient. A more detailed description can be found in the Java APIs.

Toolkit's use of BufferedReader is probably what you need.


Here is some example code to help you get started:

package com.acme;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class FileArrayProvider {

    public String[] readLines(String filename) throws IOException {
        FileReader fileReader = new FileReader(filename);
        BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(fileReader);
        List<String> lines = new ArrayList<String>();
        String line = null;
        while ((line = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null) {
            lines.add(line);
        }
        bufferedReader.close();
        return lines.toArray(new String[lines.size()]);
    }
}

And an example unit test:

package com.acme;

import java.io.IOException;

import org.junit.Test;

public class FileArrayProviderTest {

    @Test
    public void testFileArrayProvider() throws IOException {
        FileArrayProvider fap = new FileArrayProvider();
        String[] lines = fap
                .readLines("src/main/java/com/acme/FileArrayProvider.java");
        for (String line : lines) {
            System.out.println(line);
        }
    }
}

Hope this helps.


You should be able to use forward slashes in Java to refer to file locations.

The BufferedReader class is used for wrapping other file readers whos read method may not be very efficient. A more detailed description can be found in the Java APIs.

Toolkit's use of BufferedReader is probably what you need.


Apache Commons I/O provides FileUtils#readLines(), which should be fine for all but huge files: http://commons.apache.org/io/api-release/index.html. The 2.1 distribution includes FileUtils.lineIterator(), which would be suitable for large files. Google's Guava libraries include similar utilities.