NullPointerException.....WHY!?

[lrolsto1]

Assignment: Create a program to practice reading in from a file, search for a particular word when the user inputs a word to search for and a file via command line args. Print out the entire line each time it is found.
Progress:
It compiles, and runs.... kinda.
Problem: I get a null pointer exception on line the line where I end the check for the word im searching for.

public class FindString{
    public static void main(String args[]) throws FileNotFoundException, 
                                                  IOException{
        if(args.length != 2){
            System.err.println("Usage: java FindString search-string " 
                               + "file-name");
        }
        String searchString = args[0]; //word to search for
        String fileName = args[1]; // filename
        FileReader fred = null;
        try{
            fred = new FileReader(fileName);
        }
        catch(FileNotFoundException fnf){
            System.err.println("FileNotFoundException occurred: " +
                               fnf.getMessage());
        }
        try{
            BufferedReader bread = new BufferedReader(fred); 
        int index;
        String currentLine = "";
        while(currentLine != null){ //read line by line while searching
            currentLine = bread.readLine();
            index = currentLine.indexOf(searchString); //NULLPOINTEREXCEPTION
            if(index > 0){ // positive index if found
                System.out.println(currentLine);
            }
        }
            bread.close();
        }
       
        catch(IOException ioe){
            System.err.println("IOException occurred: " + ioe.getMessage());
        }
            

            }
}

Why do i get the null pointer exception and how can I get rid of it???

[aspire1]

You're checking for null before you've read the next line, a quick change to:

while( (currentLine = bread.readLine() ) != null){ //read line by line while

should fix it

[BhagatS]

Hello lrolsto1.
You need to consider the values your variables are getting in every iteration through the while loop. The problem is, that a variable is taking null value in some iteration of the while loop, thus resulting in a NullPointerException being thrown.
So you need to check the values your variables are taking.