BufferedReader in Java is a buffering input character stream that reads text from the buffer rather than directly underlying input stream or other text sources.
It adds the buffering capability to the underlying input character stream so that there is no need to access the underlying file system for each read and write operation.
Java BufferedReader is good for two important things:
1. It warps another Reader and adds a buffer that will read the text much faster and improves performance by buffering input.
For example, InputStreamReader can be wrapped by BufferedReader to buffer input data taken from the underlying file.
2. It provides a readLine() method to read a string of characters, arrays, and text lines.
Note:
a) A buffered stream stores a large number of characters from the stream so that more than one character at a time can be read.
b) When a buffered stream is empty, it is filled again with as much text as possible, even if not all of it is immediately required. Thus, it will make future reads much faster and improve performance.
Java BufferedReader class declaration
BufferedReader is a subclass of the Reader class that extends Object class. It implements Closeable, AutoCloseable, and Readable interfaces. It is also a superclass of LineNumberReader class.
The general syntax to declare BufferedReader class in Java is as follows:
public class BufferedReader
extends Reader
implements Closeable, AutoCloseable, ReadableBufferedReader class was added in Java 1.1 version. It is defined in java.io package that is imported into the program before using it.
Constructors of BufferedReader class
BufferedReader class provides two constructors for creating buffered reader objects in Java that is as follows:
1. BufferedReader(Reader inputStream): This constructor creates a buffered reader object that buffers the input stream specified by inputStream.
It uses a default-sized input buffer. The default buffer size of BufferedReader is 8192 characters which is sufficient for most purposes.
2. BufferedReader(Reader inputStream, int bufSize): This constructor creates a buffered reader object that uses an input buffer of the specified size which must be greater than zero.
How to create BufferedReader object in Java?
To create a buffered input stream reader, create BufferedReader object. The general syntax to create BufferedReader object in java program is as follows:
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(Reader inputStream);
For example:
InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(System.in); BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);
After both statements execute, br is a character-based stream that is connected to the console through System.in.
Simple steps for buffering Console-based user input
Java BufferedReader can be used to buffer (store) the data input received from an InputStreamReader object. There are the following simple steps for buffering console-based user input.
1. Create an InputStreamReader object using a standard input stream.
InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(System.in); // Line 1
2. Create BufferedReader object and pass the reference variable isr to its constructor.
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr); // Wrapping input stream reader into buffered reader. // Line 2.
3. Perform all input operations through the buffered reader.
4. At last, close the buffered stream. Closing the buffered stream automatically causes the underlying file stream to be closed.
We can also combine step 1 and step 2 to make a single BufferedReader object for keyword input.
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
Similarly, we can also wrap FileReader into BufferedReader for buffering the character-based file stream. For example, suppose a file called myfile.txt. To create a BufferedReader linked to that file.
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("myfile.txt"));Methods of BufferedReader class in Java
In addition to methods inherited from the Reader class, BufferedReader class also provides some useful methods for buffering character-based streams. They are as follows:
1. void close(): This method closes the buffered input stream and releases any system resources associated with it.
2. Stream<String> lines(): This method returns a Stream that contains the text of lines read from this BufferedReader.
3. void mark(int readAheadLimit): This method marks the present position in the buffered stream.
4. boolean markSupported(): This method tests whether this stream supports the mark() operation or not.
5. int read(): This method is used to read a single character from the buffered stream and returns it as an integer value. It returns -1 if the end of stream is encountered.
6. int read(char[ ] charbuf, int off, int len): This method reads characters into a portion of an array.
7. String readLine(): The readLine() method reads an entire line of text from what the user has typed. It is generally used to read a string from the keyboard.
It returns a string that contains the characters read, and returns null if an attempt is made to read at the end of the stream.
8. boolean ready(): This method is used to verify whether this stream is ready to be read.
9. void reset(): The reset() method is used to reset the stream to the most recent mark.
10. long skip(long numChars): The skip() method is used to skip over numChars characters of input. It returns the number of characters actually skipped.
All the methods except lines(), and markSupported() will throw an exception named IOException if any I/O error is encountered.
Example Program based on BufferedReader
1. Let’s create a program where we will read a text of line from an existing file and display it on the console.
Program code 1:
package javaProgram;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.IOException;
public class ReadFile
{
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
{
String filepath = "D:\\myfile.txt";
// Create an object of FileReader and pass filepath to its constructor.
FileReader fr = new FileReader(filepath);
// Create an object of BufferedReader and pass FileReader fr to its constructor.
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(fr);
String lineOfText;
// Read a line of text.
while((lineOfText = br.readLine()) != null)
{
System.out.println(lineOfText);
}
}
}
Output:
Every people love their own country.
myfile.txt file contents:
Every people love their own country.
2. Let’s create a Java program where we will read string data from the keyboard and display them on the console.
Program code 2:
package javaProgram;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
public class ReadFile
{
public static void main(String [] args) throws IOException{
// Create an object of BufferedReader using System.in.
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
String str;
System.out.println("Enter lines of text:");
System.out.println("Enter 'end' to quit.");
do{
str = br.readLine(); // After reading lines of text, it gets stored in variable str.
System.out.println(str);
} while(!str.equals("end"));
}
}
Output:
Enter lines of text:
Enter 'end' to quit.
This is the first line.
This is the first line.
This is the second line.
This is the second line.
end
end
In this program, an object of BufferedReader class takes an input as an argument that is an object of InputStreamReader with System.in as a parameter. It indicates that the default input device is keyboard.
3. Let’s take an example program where we will take an input a character and display its ASCII value.
Program code 3:
package javaProgram;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
public class ReadFile
{
public static void main(String [] args) throws IOException {
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
char ch;
System.out.println("Enter a character:");
int data = br.read();
ch = (char)data;
System.out.println("ASCII value is " +(int)ch);
}
}
Output:
Enter a character:
A
ASCII value is 65
Hope that this tutorial has elaborated all points related to BufferedReader class in Java with example programs. I hope that you will have understood the basic concepts of BufferedReader and practiced example programs.
In the next tutorial, we will learn Writer class in Java with example programs.
Thanks for reading!!!
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