Java using scanner enter key pressed

H J picture H J · Aug 16, 2013 · Viewed 122.5k times · Source

I am programming using Java.
I am trying write code which can recognize if the user presses the enter key in a console based program.

How can I do this using java. I have been told that this can be done using either Scanner or, buffered input reader. I do not understand(or know how to use) buffered input reader.

I tried to do do this using scanner but after pressing enter twice the program terminates, and it doesn't work

    Scanner readinput = new Scanner(System.in);

    String enterkey = "Hola";
    System.out.print(enterkey);


    enterkey = readinput.nextLine();
     System.out.print(enterkey);

    if(enterkey == ""){

        System.out.println("It works!");

Thanks

-- edit -- the following code works using the equals method for the string instead of ==

    Scanner readinput = new Scanner(System.in);

    String enterkey = "Hola";
    System.out.print(enterkey);


    enterkey = readinput.nextLine();
     System.out.print(enterkey);

    if(enterkey.equals("")){

        System.out.println("It works!");

how can this be done, and what are the pros to doing this using the buffered input reader?

Answer

Caleb Brinkman picture Caleb Brinkman · Aug 17, 2013

This works using java.util.Scanner and will take multiple "enter" keystrokes:

    Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
    String readString = scanner.nextLine();
    while(readString!=null) {
        System.out.println(readString);

        if (readString.isEmpty()) {
            System.out.println("Read Enter Key.");
        }

        if (scanner.hasNextLine()) {
            readString = scanner.nextLine();
        } else {
            readString = null;
        }
    }

To break it down:

Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
String readString = scanner.nextLine();

These lines initialize a new Scanner that is reading from the standard input stream (the keyboard) and reads a single line from it.

    while(readString!=null) {
        System.out.println(readString);

While the scanner is still returning non-null data, print each line to the screen.

        if (readString.isEmpty()) {
            System.out.println("Read Enter Key.");
        }

If the "enter" (or return, or whatever) key is supplied by the input, the nextLine() method will return an empty string; by checking to see if the string is empty, we can determine whether that key was pressed. Here the text Read Enter Key is printed, but you could perform whatever action you want here.

        if (scanner.hasNextLine()) {
            readString = scanner.nextLine();
        } else {
            readString = null;
        }

Finally, after printing the content and/or doing something when the "enter" key is pressed, we check to see if the scanner has another line; for the standard input stream, this method will "block" until either the stream is closed, the execution of the program ends, or further input is supplied.