How to take String Input in Java

In this tutorial, we will learn how to take String input in Java. There are two ways you can take string as an input from user, using Scanner class and using BufferedReader. However most common way is using Scanner class. Let’s see programs of each of these approaches:

1. String Input using Scanner Class

In this example, we are using nextLine() method of Scanner class to read the user input. This way we can read the entire line entered by user. Don’t forget to import java.util.Scanner package to use Scanner class.

import java.util.Scanner;

public class StringInputExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Create a Scanner object
        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
        
        // Prompt user for string input
        System.out.println("Enter a string:");
        
        // Read the user input using nextLine() method
        String input = scanner.nextLine();
        
        // Print the input string
        System.out.println("User entered: " + input);
        
        // Close the Scanner object after use
        scanner.close();
    }
}

Notes:

• Scanner: The Scanner class is part of the java.util package and it contains various methods that can be used to read user inputs.
• nextLine(): This method of Scanner class reads the entire line entered by user including spaces until the end of the line.
• Closing the Scanner: The close() method of Scanner class is used to close the Scanner after use to prevent resource leaks. Although, the program runs fine without using this method, it is still recommended to use this as part of best practices.

2. String Input using BufferedReader

Another way to read String input in Java is by using BufferedReader. This is less common but still useful in some cases.

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.IOException;

public class StringInputExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Create a BufferedReader object
        BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
        
        // Prompt user for string input
        System.out.println("Enter a string:");
        
        try {
            // Read user input
            String input = reader.readLine();
            
            // print user entered string
            System.out.println("You entered: " + input);
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}