text file into a string?

[Landon]

Hi,
I need to turn a .txt file into a string? so I can then loop through and get the names out and their corresponding test scores. This is what i currently have, I need it to be in a string instead of printing out, once I got the string I'll work on writing the loops. Thanks.

import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
 
public class ReadTextFileExample
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        //Prompt user for filename
        System.out.println("Please type file name and press Enter: ");
        BufferedReader kbd = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
        String filename = null;
        try 
        {
         filename = kbd.readLine();
        } 
        catch (IOException e) 
        {
         System.out.println("Filename was not correct.");
         System.exit(0);
        }
        
        File file = new File("filename");
        StringBuffer contents = new StringBuffer();
        BufferedReader reader = null;
 
        try
        {
            reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(filename));
            String text = null;
 
            // repeat until all lines are read
            while ((text = reader.readLine()) != null)
            {
                contents.append(text).append(System.getProperty("line.separator"));
            }
        } 
        
        catch (FileNotFoundException e)
        {
            System.out.println("The filename entered was not found, program will now terminate.");
        } 
        
        catch (IOException e)
        {
            System.out.println("The filename entered was not found, program will now terminate.");
        } 
        
        finally
        {
            try
            {
                if (reader != null)
                {
                    reader.close();
                }
            } catch (IOException e)
            {
                System.out.println("The filename entered was not found, program will now terminate.");
            }
            
        }
        
        System.out.println(contents.toString());
    }
}

[Zack]

You actually already have the contents as a string.

Notice this line:

System.out.println(contents.toString());

That's what prints out the contents. Here, you can do anything with contents (which is a StringBuffer variable--read here for the API).

Did you get this code from elsewhere? If so you should make sure you understand the purpose of each variable and block once using it.

[Landon]

Thanks for the reading material, if I were to write

String newStr = contents.toString();

would newStr then be a string with the contents of the .txt file that I could work with from there?

[JosAH]

Thanks for the reading material, if I were to write

String newStr = contents.toString();

would newStr then be a string with the contents of the .txt file that I could work with from there?

What happens when you try it?

kind regards,

Jos

[Zack]

That is correct. ;)

[Landon]

Awesome, thanks a lot guys. Especially for reference material Zack.