Display all words(duplicates included) from a text file

[Cory_1]

I am trying to work on a code for extra credit in my Programming class. The question asks for the user to input a text file, and display all the words in that file(including duplicates) in ascending order. After writing the code several different times over the course of four days, I have finally gotten it to accept the file and display the output. However, instead of displaying the words fromt the file, it displays a bunch of symbols. Here is a sample of the output: £5Z;•_=QÉ? #Û=¸2?±.
It displays a long list of similar stuff. I've tried revising the code and I either get error messages, or it just displays symbols instead of words. Please help! I only have until 8 tonight to submit it online!(Even though I know DaniWeb isn't meant for help on homework problems, but I'm stumped)

import java.io.*;//imports all Input/Output methods
import java.util.*;//imports all utility methods
public class Assessment3 {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        //use IOException
        Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in); //calls Scanner to allow for input
        System.out.println("Enter a text file for sorting its words in alphabetical order." + "\n Note! You must input the ENTIRE FILE LOCATION." + "\n Example: C:/Users/Username/File Location/Filename.file type." );
        String text = input.nextLine();
        File file = new File(text); //creates a file from the user input
        if (!file.exists()) { //creates a loop to display a message if the file does not exist
            System.out.println("The input file you specified either does not exist or is not in the designated location.");
        }
            BufferedReader charRead = null; //creates an empty BufferReader to read all characters, strings or arrays from a file
            List<String> words = new ArrayList<String>(); //creates an ArrayList which will be uses to store a string of words from the file
            try {
                charRead = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(text)); //assigns new BufferReader to charWord, as BufferReader uses FileReader to read the input file
                String nextSentence = charRead.readLine(); //reads every line of the sentence
                while (nextSentence != null) {
                    String[] allWords = nextSentence.split(" "); //adds all words from the document to array, separating them with a space
                    nextSentence = charRead.readLine(); //reads the next line from the file and replaces previous nextSentence
                    words.add(nextSentence); //assigns all words to ArrayList
                }
                charRead.close();//exits the BufferReader
            }
            catch (IOException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();

            }

            display(words);
        }

    public static<E> void display(List<E> wordList) {
        for (int i = 0; i < wordList.size(); i++) {
            System.out.println(wordList.get(i));
        }
    }
}

[JamesCherrill]

You split each line into words (line 19) but then you do nothing with that, you just add the complete line to your ArrayList.
But anyway, the only way I can see for you to get gibberish output like that is if your default charset doesn't match the actual file's contents.

ps Your code would be a lot easier to read without all those pointless comments. You should assume that the reader knows Java syntax, so all you need to explain is overall what you are trying to achieve in each code block. There is not a single comment in all that code that tells the reader anything they can't see in the code iteself, except where they are actually wrong, eg
if (!file.exists()) { //creates a loop ... (no, it doesn't create a loop)

[Cory_1]

I have rewritten my code, and now it displays the words correctly and in alphabetical order. The only problem I have now is that it only displays all lowercase words, not both lower and upper case. How do I get it to display the Upper case as well?

import java.io.*;//imports all Input/Output methods
import java.util.*;//imports all utility methods
public class Assessment3 {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException{
        //use IOException
        Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in); //calls Scanner to allow for input
        System.out.println("Enter a text file for sorting its words in alphabetical order." + "\nNote! You must input the ENTIRE FILE LOCATION." + "\nExample: C:/Users/Username/File Location/Filename.txt" );
        String text = input.nextLine();
        File file = new File(text); //creates a file from the user input
        if (!file.exists()) { //returns output if file does not exist
            System.out.println("The input file you specified either does not exist or is not in the designated location.");
        }
            BufferedReader charRead; //creates an empty BufferReader to read all characters, strings or arrays from a file
            List<String> words = new ArrayList<String>(); //creates an ArrayList which will be uses to store a string of words from the file

                charRead = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(text)); //assigns new BufferReader to charWord, as BufferReader uses FileReader to read the input file
                String nextSentence; //reads every line of the sentence
                while ((nextSentence = charRead.readLine()) != null) {
                    words.addAll(Arrays.asList(nextSentence.split("\\b+"))); //assigns all words to ArrayList


            }
            Collections.sort(words);
            for (String allWords: words) {
                if (allWords != null &!allWords.equals("") )
                    if (Character.isLetter(allWords.charAt(0)))
                        System.out.println(allWords);

        }
        charRead.close();
    }
}

[JamesCherrill]

There's nothing in that code that will behave differently between upper and lower case letters, other than Collections.sort will sort upper case letters before lower case (ASCII/Unicode order).