Asking for input after catching an exception

h-rai picture h-rai · Aug 30, 2012 · Viewed 9.8k times · Source

I want the user to enter a number which is scanned by the following code:

scanner.nextInt();

If a user enters a string instead, the program throws InputMismatchException, which is obvious. I want to catch the exception in such a way that the program prompts the user to enter an input until the user enters an integer value.

Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
while(true) {
    try {
        System.out.println("Please enter a number: ");
        int input = scanner.nextInt();
        System.out.println(input);
        //statements
        break;
    }
    catch(InputMismatchException | NumberFormatException ex ) {
        continue;
    }
}

This code creates an infinite loop if a string is entered.

Answer

h-rai picture h-rai · Aug 31, 2012

The answer to my problem is as follows:

Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
while(true) {
    try {
        System.out.println("Please enter a number: ");
        int input = scanner.nextInt();
        System.out.println(input);
        //statements
        break;
    }
    catch(InputMismatchException | NumberFormatException ex ) {
        scanner.next();//new piece of code which parses the wrong input and clears the //scanner for new input
        continue;
    }
}