What's the difference between next() and nextLine() methods from Scanner class?

java java.util.scanner
AnnieOK picture AnnieOK · Mar 17, 2014 · Viewed 269.1k times · Source

What is the main difference between next() and nextLine()?
My main goal is to read the all text using a Scanner which may be "connected" to any source (file for example).

Which one should I choose and why?

Answer

Tristan picture Tristan · Mar 17, 2014

I always prefer to read input using nextLine() and then parse the string.

Using next() will only return what comes before the delimiter (defaults to whitespace). nextLine() automatically moves the scanner down after returning the current line.

A useful tool for parsing data from nextLine() would be str.split("\\s+").

String data = scanner.nextLine();
String[] pieces = data.split("\\s+");
// Parse the pieces

For more information regarding the Scanner class or String class refer to the following links.

Scanner: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/Scanner.html

String: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/String.html

Related questions

How can I read input from the console using the Scanner class in Java?

How could I read input from the console using the Scanner class? Something like this: System.out.println("Enter your username: "); Scanner = input(); // Or something like this, I don't know the code Basically, all I want is have the scanner …

Read More
Take a char input from the Scanner

I am trying to find a way to take a char input from the keyboard. I tried using: Scanner reader = new Scanner(System.in); char c = reader.nextChar(); This method doesn't exist. I tried taking c as a String. Yet, …

Read More
Using scanner.nextLine()

I have been having trouble while attempting to use the nextLine() method from java.util.Scanner. Here is what I tried: import java.util.Scanner; class TestRevised { public void menu() { Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in); System.out.print("Enter …

Read More