BufferedReader vs Console vs Scanner

Question

Hi I'm new to Java and I would like to know what is the best choice to read a user Input in the console, as far as I know there are 3 ways to do it:

1. Console console = System.console();
2. BufferedReader input = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
3. Scanner reader = new Scanner(System.in);

Which one should I choose? Why that one and not the other ones?

Answer 1

BufferedReader

• Since Java 1.1
• Throws checked exceptions
• Can read chars, char arrays, and lines
• Fast

Scanner

• Since Java 1.5
• Doesn't throw checked exceptions
• Can read lines, whitespace-delimited tokens, regex-delimited tokens, and numbers
• Difficult to read single characters

Console

• Since Java 1.6
• Doesn't throw checked exceptions
• Can read lines
• Underlying reader can read chars and char arrays (stops at line bounds)
• Not always available (e.g. Eclipse)
• Can read passwords (i.e. read without displaying the characters)

Recommendation: Scanner

The methods for reading numbers are very useful. The exceptions are unchecked, so you do not have to write boilerplate try/catch blocks.