Module java.base
Package java.io

Class BufferedReader

java.lang.Object
java.io.Reader
java.io.BufferedReader
All Implemented Interfaces:
Closeable, AutoCloseable, Readable
Direct Known Subclasses:
LineNumberReader
public class BufferedReader extends Reader
Reads text from a character-input stream, buffering characters so as to provide for the efficient reading of characters, arrays, and lines.

The buffer size may be specified, or the default size may be used. The default is large enough for most purposes.

In general, each read request made of a Reader causes a corresponding read request to be made of the underlying character or byte stream. It is therefore advisable to wrap a BufferedReader around any Reader whose read() operations may be costly, such as FileReaders and InputStreamReaders. For example, 

    BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("foo.in"));
will buffer the input from the specified file. Without buffering, each invocation of read() or readLine() could cause bytes to be read from the file, converted into characters, and then returned, which can be very inefficient.

Programs that use DataInputStreams for textual input can be localized by replacing each DataInputStream with an appropriate BufferedReader.

Since:
1.1
See Also:

  • Field Summary

    Fields declared in class java.io.Reader

    lock

  • Constructor Summary

    Constructors
    Constructor
    Description
    BufferedReader(Reader in)
    Creates a buffering character-input stream that uses a default-sized input buffer.
    BufferedReader(Reader in, int sz)
    Creates a buffering character-input stream that uses an input buffer of the specified size.

  • Method Summary

    Modifier and Type
    Method
    Description
    void
    close()
    Closes the stream and releases any system resources associated with it.
    Stream<String>
    lines()
    Returns a Stream, the elements of which are lines read from this BufferedReader.
    void
    mark(int readAheadLimit)
    Marks the present position in the stream.
    boolean
    markSupported()
    Tells whether this stream supports the mark() operation, which it does.
    int
    read()
    Reads a single character.
    int
    read(char[] cbuf, int off, int len)
    Reads characters into a portion of an array.
    String
    readLine()
    Reads a line of text.
    boolean
    ready()
    Tells whether this stream is ready to be read.
    void
    reset()
    Resets the stream to the most recent mark.

    Methods declared in class java.io.Reader

    nullReader, read, read, skip, transferTo

    Methods declared in class java.lang.Object

    clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

  • Constructor Details

    • BufferedReader

      public BufferedReader(Reader in, int sz)
      Creates a buffering character-input stream that uses an input buffer of the specified size.
      Parameters:
      in - A Reader
      sz - Input-buffer size
      Throws:
      IllegalArgumentException - If sz <= 0

    • BufferedReader

      public BufferedReader(Reader in)
      Creates a buffering character-input stream that uses a default-sized input buffer.
      Parameters:
      in - A Reader

  • Method Details

    • read

      public int read() throws IOException
      Reads a single character.
      Overrides:
      read in class Reader
      Returns:
      The character read, as an integer in the range 0 to 65535 (0x00-0xffff), or -1 if the end of the stream has been reached
      Throws:
      IOException - If an I/O error occurs

    • read

      public int read(char[] cbuf, int off, int len) throws IOException
      Reads characters into a portion of an array.

      This method implements the general contract of the corresponding read method of the Reader class. As an additional convenience, it attempts to read as many characters as possible by repeatedly invoking the read method of the underlying stream. This iterated read continues until one of the following conditions becomes true:

      • The specified number of characters have been read,
      • The read method of the underlying stream returns -1, indicating end-of-file, or
      • The ready method of the underlying stream returns false, indicating that further input requests would block.
      If the first read on the underlying stream returns -1 to indicate end-of-file then this method returns -1. Otherwise this method returns the number of characters actually read.

      Subclasses of this class are encouraged, but not required, to attempt to read as many characters as possible in the same fashion.

      Ordinarily this method takes characters from this stream's character buffer, filling it from the underlying stream as necessary. If, however, the buffer is empty, the mark is not valid, and the requested length is at least as large as the buffer, then this method will read characters directly from the underlying stream into the given array. Thus redundant BufferedReaders will not copy data unnecessarily.

      Specified by:
      read in class Reader
      Parameters:
      cbuf - Destination buffer
      off - Offset at which to start storing characters
      len - Maximum number of characters to read
      Returns:
      The number of characters read, or -1 if the end of the stream has been reached
      Throws:
      IndexOutOfBoundsException - If off is negative, or len is negative, or len is greater than cbuf.length - off
      IOException - If an I/O error occurs

    • readLine

      public String readLine() throws IOException
      Reads a line of text. A line is considered to be terminated by any one of a line feed ('\n'), a carriage return ('\r'), a carriage return followed immediately by a line feed, or by reaching the end-of-file (EOF).
      Returns:
      A String containing the contents of the line, not including any line-termination characters, or null if the end of the stream has been reached without reading any characters
      Throws:
      IOException - If an I/O error occurs
      See Also:

    • ready

      public boolean ready() throws IOException
      Tells whether this stream is ready to be read. A buffered character stream is ready if the buffer is not empty, or if the underlying character stream is ready.
      Overrides:
      ready in class Reader
      Returns:
      True if the next read() is guaranteed not to block for input, false otherwise. Note that returning false does not guarantee that the next read will block.
      Throws:
      IOException - If an I/O error occurs

    • markSupported

      public boolean markSupported()
      Tells whether this stream supports the mark() operation, which it does.
      Overrides:
      markSupported in class Reader
      Returns:
      true if and only if this stream supports the mark operation.

    • mark

      public void mark(int readAheadLimit) throws IOException
      Marks the present position in the stream. Subsequent calls to reset() will attempt to reposition the stream to this point.
      Overrides:
      mark in class Reader
      Parameters:
      readAheadLimit - Limit on the number of characters that may be read while still preserving the mark. An attempt to reset the stream after reading characters up to this limit or beyond may fail. A limit value larger than the size of the input buffer will cause a new buffer to be allocated whose size is no smaller than limit. Therefore large values should be used with care.
      Throws:
      IllegalArgumentException - If readAheadLimit < 0
      IOException - If an I/O error occurs

    • reset

      public void reset() throws IOException
      Resets the stream to the most recent mark.
      Overrides:
      reset in class Reader
      Throws:
      IOException - If the stream has never been marked, or if the mark has been invalidated

    • close

      public void close() throws IOException
      Description copied from class: Reader
      Closes the stream and releases any system resources associated with it. Once the stream has been closed, further read(), ready(), mark(), reset(), or skip() invocations will throw an IOException. Closing a previously closed stream has no effect.
      Specified by:
      close in interface AutoCloseable
      Specified by:
      close in interface Closeable
      Specified by:
      close in class Reader
      Throws:
      IOException - If an I/O error occurs

    • lines

      public Stream<String> lines()
      Returns a Stream, the elements of which are lines read from this BufferedReader. The Stream is lazily populated, i.e., read only occurs during the terminal stream operation.

      The reader must not be operated on during the execution of the terminal stream operation. Otherwise, the result of the terminal stream operation is undefined.

      After execution of the terminal stream operation there are no guarantees that the reader will be at a specific position from which to read the next character or line.

      If an IOException is thrown when accessing the underlying BufferedReader, it is wrapped in an UncheckedIOException which will be thrown from the Stream method that caused the read to take place. This method will return a Stream if invoked on a BufferedReader that is closed. Any operation on that stream that requires reading from the BufferedReader after it is closed, will cause an UncheckedIOException to be thrown.

      Returns:
      a Stream<String> providing the lines of text described by this BufferedReader
      Since:
      1.8