Java

Scanner or BufferedReader ?

View Poll Results: Scanner or BufferedReader?
Scanner	3	33.33%
BufferedReader	6	66.67%
Voters: 9. You may not vote on this poll

Thread Solved

•

Join Date: Dec 2007

Posts: 1,648

Reputation: javaAddict is a name known to all

Solved Threads: 223

javaAddict javaAddict is offline

Offline

Posting Virtuoso

Scanner or BufferedReader ?

Jan 22nd, 2009

This is not much of a question, but a discussion and searching for opinions. I have seen that many use the Scanner class for getting input from the keyboard. Some, like myself, use the BufferedReader.

Why will someone use one over the other?

Or they both do the same thing when it comes something simple as that and their real difference is when it comes to using them for something more complex?

Check out my New Bike at my Public Profile at the "About Me" tab

•

Join Date: May 2008

Posts: 895

Reputation: Paul Thompson has a spectacular aura about

Solved Threads: 143

Paul Thompson Paul Thompson is offline

Offline

previously paulthom12345

Re: Scanner or BufferedReader ?

Jan 22nd, 2009

Well im voting for the scanner. Thats how i learnt and thats how i go, i dont find anything wrong with it so i stay that way.. addmitedly i really dont know a thing about Buffered Reader anyway, so it could be loads better for all i know.

Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.
Check out my Site | and join us on IRC | Python Specific IRC

•

Join Date: Jan 2009

Posts: 34

Reputation: jrdark13 is an unknown quantity at this point

Solved Threads: 3

jrdark13

Offline

Light Poster

Re: Scanner or BufferedReader ?

Jan 22nd, 2009

•

Originally Posted by paulthom12345

Well im voting for the scanner. Thats how i learnt and thats how i go, i dont find anything wrong with it so i stay that way.. addmitedly i really dont know a thing about Buffered Reader anyway, so it could be loads better for all i know.

Ditto... If i ever begin to study BufferedReader I'll discuss it further. What are the differences anyway? Any one that is advanced plz reply?

•

Join Date: May 2007

Posts: 4,438

Reputation: Ezzaral has much to be proud of

Solved Threads: 509

Ezzaral

Offline

Industrious Poster

Re: Scanner or BufferedReader ?

Jan 22nd, 2009

Neither one. I don't write console applications.

•

Join Date: Dec 2004

Posts: 4,185

Reputation: peter_budo has much to be proud of

Solved Threads: 481

peter_budo peter_budo is online now

Online

Code tags enforcer

Re: Scanner or BufferedReader ?

Jan 22nd, 2009

Ehmmm where do I find this in Java Microedition?

Neither me. For now I work in JME, Swing or Web Development so no.

Last edited by peter_budo; Jan 22nd, 2009 at 3:57 pm.

Learn to see in another's calamity the ills which you should avoid.
Publilius Syrus
(~100 BC)
LJC - London Java Community, Graduate & Undergraduate Software Development Community, JAVAWUG (Java Web User Group), The London Android Group

•

Join Date: Dec 2008

Posts: 21

Reputation: chili5 is an unknown quantity at this point

Solved Threads: 2

chili5

Offline

Newbie Poster

Re: Scanner or BufferedReader ?

Jan 22nd, 2009

I used to use the buffered reader in September but I started to find when in my contests that the Scanner is better.

Since I can read individual elements at a time, I don't have to worry about splitting and parsing into integers.

Say my input file is:

•

4 4
*...
....
.*..

With the buffered reader, I would have to read things in line at a time, split it up and parse it into integers. Thus the buffered reader seems to make input a lot tougher.

Buffered reader:

 Help with Code Tags 
 Java Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("DATA1.txt"));
String[] arsNums = br.readLine().split(" ");
int nX = Integer.parseInt(arsNums[0]);
int nY = Integer.parseInt(arsNums[1]);
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("DATA1.txt"));
String[] arsNums = br.readLine().split(" ");
int nX = Integer.parseInt(arsNums[0]);
int nY = Integer.parseInt(arsNums[1]);

With the scanner I don't have to read in each line as a string and parse it with the Integer class.

Scanner:

 Help with Code Tags 
 Java Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
Scanner sin = new Scanner(new FileReader("DATA1.txt"));
        int nX = sin.nextInt();
        int nY = sin.nextInt();
        char[][] arcGrid = new char[nX][nY];
        String sLine = "";
 
        for (int x=0;x<nX;x++) {
            sLine = sin.next();
            for (int y=0;y<nY;y++) {
                arcGrid[x][y] = sLine.charAt(y);
            }
        }
Scanner sin = new Scanner(new FileReader("DATA1.txt"));
        int nX = sin.nextInt();
        int nY = sin.nextInt();
        char[][] arcGrid = new char[nX][nY];
        String sLine = "";

        for (int x=0;x<nX;x++) {
            sLine = sin.next();
            for (int y=0;y<nY;y++) {
                arcGrid[x][y] = sLine.charAt(y);
            }
        }

Also I can have Scanner that parses each individual element in a String. So the Scanner class is quite helpful - and in my opinion a lot better than the buffered reader.

 Help with Code Tags 
 Java Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
String sText = "Four men went down to the store, to catch frogs!";
Scanner sin = new Scanner(sText);
while (sin.hasNext()) {
        System.out.println(sin.next());
}
String sText = "Four men went down to the store, to catch frogs!";
Scanner sin = new Scanner(sText);
while (sin.hasNext()) {
        System.out.println(sin.next());
}

Prints:

•

Four
men
went
down
to the
store,
to
catch
frogs!

So that is why I believe the Scanner class is better than the Buffered Reader.

•

Join Date: Dec 2007

Posts: 1,648

Reputation: javaAddict is a name known to all

Solved Threads: 223

javaAddict javaAddict is offline

Offline

Posting Virtuoso

Re: Scanner or BufferedReader ?

Jan 23rd, 2009

•

Originally Posted by Ezzaral

Neither one. I don't write console applications.

I don't write console applications either but when I first begun I knew from my book only the BufferedReader. So since we've seen many students here asking how to read files and input from the console I thought to get other opinions and discuss the topic.

There has to be some reason why someone would choose to use one over the other

Check out my New Bike at my Public Profile at the "About Me" tab

•

Join Date: Sep 2008

Posts: 91

Reputation: ezkonekgal is an unknown quantity at this point

Solved Threads: 1

ezkonekgal ezkonekgal is offline

Offline

Junior Poster in Training

Re: Scanner or BufferedReader ?

Jan 23rd, 2009

I guess it's just the matter of what you like, and on which is a lot easier. I have learn buffered reader. My prof. didn't teach us scanner. I heard about it from others that it is much easier to use, but i don't know. My prof. doesn't allow us to use scanner. I don't know why.

•

Join Date: Jul 2007

Posts: 1,175

Reputation: stephen84s is a glorious beacon of light

Solved Threads: 125

stephen84s stephen84s is offline

Offline

Veteran Poster

Re: Scanner or BufferedReader ?

Jan 23rd, 2009

•

Originally Posted by javaAddict

I don't write console applications either but when I first begun I knew from my book only the BufferedReader.

That was most probably because when we learnt Java, java.util.Scanner did not exist.
I started learning Java from the 1.4.2 version of the JDK, and Scanner was introduced only in the 1.5 version and since console input is not so widely used by many of us, we opted to stick with good ol' BufferedReader.

Last edited by stephen84s; Jan 23rd, 2009 at 7:13 am.

"Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand."

"How to ask questions the smart way ?"

•

Join Date: Dec 2007

Posts: 1,648

Reputation: javaAddict is a name known to all

Solved Threads: 223

javaAddict javaAddict is offline

Offline

Posting Virtuoso

Re: Scanner or BufferedReader ?

#10

Jan 23rd, 2009

•

Originally Posted by stephen84s

That was most probably because when we learnt Java, java.util.Scanner did not exist.
I started learning Java from the 1.4.2 version of the JDK, and Scanner was introduced only in the 1.5 version and since console input is not so widely used by many of us, we opted to stick with good ol' BufferedReader.

Well the book I had was called Java 1.2. I don't remember what kind of java I had because I didn't know about versions but I believe I had Java Version 1.2

Check out my New Bike at my Public Profile at the "About Me" tab