CHAPTER 7

INPUT/OUTPUT
AND EXCEPTION
HANDLING
 Chapter Goals
 To read and write text files
 To process command line arguments
 To throw and catch exceptions
 To implement programs that propagate
checked exceptions

In this chapter, you will learn how to write

programs that manipulate text files, a very
useful skill for processing real world data.
 Contents
 Reading and Writing Text Files
 Text Input and Output
 Command Line Arguments
 Exception Handling
 Application: Handling Input Errors
 7.1 Reading and Writing Text Files
 Text Files are very commonly used to store
information
 Both numbers and words can be stored as text
 They are the most ‘portable’ types of data files
 The Scanner class can be used to read text files
 We have used it to read from the keyboard
 Reading from a file requires using the File class
 The PrintWriter class will be used to write text
files
 Using familiar print, println and printf tools
 Text File Input
 Create an object of the File class
 Pass it the name of the file to read in quotes
File inputFile = new File("input.txt");
 Then create an object of the Scanner class
 Pass the constructor the new File object
Scanner in = new Scanner(inputFile);
 Then use Scanner methods such as:
 next()
while (in.hasNextLine())
 nextLine() {
 hasNextLine() String line = in.nextLine();
 hasNext() // Process line;
 nextDouble() }
 nextInt()...
 Text File Output
 Create an object of the PrintWriter class
 Pass it the name of the file to write in quotes
PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter("output.txt");
• If output.txt exists, it will be emptied
• If output.txt does not exist, it will create an empty file
PrintWriter is an enhanced version of PrintStream
• System.out is a PrintStream object!
System.out.println(“Hello World!”);
 Then use PrintWriter methods such as:
 print()
out.println("Hello, World!");
 println() out.printf("Total: %8.2f\n", totalPrice);
 printf()
 Closing Files
 You must use the close method before file
reading and writing is complete
 Closing a Scanner
while (in.hasNextLine())
{
String line = in.nextLine();
// Process line;
Your text may not be saved
}
to the file until you use the
in.close();
close method!
 Closing a PrintWriter
out.println("Hello, World!");
out.printf("Total: %8.2f\n", totalPrice);
out.close();
 Exceptions Preview
 One additional issue that we need to tackle:
 If the input or output file for a Scanner doesn’t
exist, a FileNotFoundException occurs when
the Scanner object is constructed.
 The PrintWriter constructor can generate this
exception if it cannot open the file for writing.
• If the name is illegal or the user does not have the
authority to create a file in the given location
 Exceptions Preview
 Add two words to any method that uses File I/O
public static void main(String[] args) throws
FileNotFoundException
• Until you learn how to handle exceptions yourself
 And an important import or two..
 Exception classes are part of the java.io package
 Place the import directives at the beginning of the
source file that will be using File I/O and exceptions
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.util.Scanner;

public class LineNumberer

{
public void openFile() throws FileNotFoundException
{
. . .
}
}
Example: Total.java (1)
More import statements
required! Some examples may
use import java.io.*;

Note the throws clause

Example: Total.java (2)

Don’t forget to close the files

before your program ends.
 Common Error 7.1
 Backslashes in File Names
 When using a String literal for a file name with path
information, you need to supply each backslash twice:
File inputFile = new File("c:\\homework\\input.dat");

 A single backslash inside a quoted string is the escape

character, which means the next character is interpreted
differently (for example, ‘\n’ for a newline character)

 When a user supplies a filename into a program, the

user should not type the backslash twice
 Common Error 7.2
 Constructing a Scanner with a String
 When you construct a PrintWriter with a String, it writes
to a file:
PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter("output.txt");
 This does not work for a Scanner object
Scanner in = new Scanner("input.txt"); // Error?
 It does not open a file. Instead, it simply reads through
the String that you passed ( “input.txt” )
 To read from a file, pass Scanner a File object:
Scanner in = new Scanner(new File (“input.txt”) );
 or File myFile = new File("input.txt");
Scanner in = new Scanner(myFile);
 7.2 Text Input and Output
 In the following sections, you will learn how to
process text with complex contents, and you will
learn how to cope with challenges that often occur
with real data.
 Reading Words Example:

Mary had a little lamb

while (in.hasNext())
input Mary
{
String input = in.next(); had
System.out.println(input); output a
} little
lamb
 Processing Text Input
 There are times when you want to read input by:
 Each Word
Processing input is required for
 Each Line
almost all types of programs that
 One Number
interact with the user.
 One Character

 Java provides methods of the Scanner and

String classes to handle each situation
 It does take some practice to mix them though!
 Reading Words
 In the examples so far, we have read text one line at a time
 To read each word one at a time in a loop, use:
 The Scanner object’s hasNext()method to test if there
is another word
 The Scanner object’s next() method to read one word
while (in.hasNext())
{
String input = in.next();
System.out.println(input);
}
Mary
 Input: Output: had
Mary had a little lamb a
little
lamb
 White Space
 The Scanner’s next() method has to decide
where a word starts and ends.

 It uses simple rules:

 It consumes all white space before the first character
 It then reads characters until the first white space
character is found or the end of the input is reached
 White Space
 What is whitespace?
 Characters used to separate:
• Words
• Lines
Common White Space
‘ ‘ Space “Mary had a little lamb,\n
\n NewLine her fleece was white as\tsnow”
\r Carriage Return
\t Tab
\f Form Feed
 The useDelimiter Method
 The Scanner class has a method to change the
default set of delimiters used to separate words.

 The useDelimiter method takes a String that lists all

of the characters you want to use as delimiters:
Scanner in = new Scanner(. . .);
in.useDelimiter("[^A-Za-z]+");
 The useDelimiter Method
Scanner in = new Scanner(. . .);
in.useDelimiter("[^A-Za-z]+");

 You can also pass a String in regular expression format

inside the String parameter as in the example above.

 [^A-Za-z]+ says that all characters that ^not either A-

Z uppercase letters A through Z or a-z lowercase a
through z are delimiters.

 Search the Internet to learn more about regular

expressions.
 Reading Characters
 There are no hasNextChar() or nextChar()
methods of the Scanner class
 Instead, you can set the Scanner to use an ‘empty’
delimiter ("") Scanner in = new Scanner(. . .);
in.useDelimiter("");

while (in.hasNext())
{
char ch = in.next().charAt(0);
// Process each character
}
 next returns a one character String
 Use charAt(0) to extract the character from the String
at index 0 to a char variable
 Classifying Characters
 The Character class provides several useful
methods to classify a character:
 Pass them a char and they return a boolean
if ( Character.isDigit(ch) ) …
 Reading Lines
 Some text files are used as simple databases
 Each line has a set of related pieces of information
 This example is complicated by: China 1330044605
• Some countries use two words India 1147995898
– “United States” United States 303824646
 It would be better to read the entire line and process it
using powerful String class methods
while (in.hasNextLine())
{
String line = in.nextLine();
// Process each line
}

 nextLine() reads one line and consumes the ending ‘\n’

 Breaking Up Each Line
 Now we need to break up the line into two parts
 Everything before the first digit is part of the country

 Get the index of the first digit with Character.isdigit

int i = 0;
while (!Character.isDigit(line.charAt(i))) { i++; }
 Breaking Up Each Line
 Use String methods to extract the two parts

United States
String countryName = line.substring(0, i);
String population = line.substring(i); 303824646
// remove the trailing space in countryName
countryName = countryName.trim();
trim removes white space at
the beginning and the end.
 Or Use Scanner Methods
 Instead of String methods, you can sometimes
use Scanner methods to do the same tasks
 Read the line into a String variable United States 303824646
• Pass the String variable to a new Scanner object
 Use Scanner hasNextInt to find the numbers
• If not numbers, use next and concatenate words
Scanner lineScanner = new Scanner(line); Remember the
next method
String countryName = lineScanner.next(); consumes white
while (!lineScanner.hasNextInt()) space.
{
countryName = countryName + " " + lineScanner.next();
}
 Converting Strings to Numbers
 Strings can contain digits, not numbers
 They must be converted to numeric types
 ‘Wrapper’ classes provide a parseInt method

‘3’ ‘0’ ‘3’ ‘8’ ‘2’ ‘4’ ‘6’ ‘4’ ‘6’

String pop = “303824646”;

int populationValue = Integer.parseInt(pop);

‘3’ ‘.’ ‘9’ ‘5’

String priceString = “3.95”;
int price = Double.parseInt(priceString);
 Converting Strings to Numbers
 Caution:
 The argument must be a string containing only digits
without any additional characters. Not even spaces are
allowed! So… Use the trim method before parsing!

int populationValue = Integer.parseInt(pop.trim());

 Safely Reading Numbers
 Scanner nextInt and nextDouble can get
confused
 If the number is not properly formatted, an “Input
Mismatch Exception” occurs
 Use the hasNextInt and hasNextDouble methods to
test your input first
if (in.hasNextInt())
{
int value = in.nextInt(); // safe
}

 They will return true if digits are present

 If true, nextInt and nextDouble will return a value
 If not true, they would ‘throw’ an ‘input mismatch exception’
 Reading Other Number Types
 The Scanner class has methods to test and read
almost all of the primitive types
Data Type Test Method Read Method
byte hasNextByte nextByte
short hasNextShort nextShort
int hasNextInt nextInt
long hasNextLong nextLong
float hasNextFloat nextFloat
double hasNextDouble nextDouble
boolean hasNextBoolean nextBoolean
 What is missing?
 Right, no char methods!
 Mixing Number, Word and Line Input
 nextDouble (and nextInt…) do not consume
white space following a number
 This can be an issue when calling nextLine after
reading a number China
 There is a ‘newline’ at the end of each line 1330044605
 After reading 1330044605 with nextInt India
• nextLine will read until the ‘\n’ (an empty String)
while (in.hasNextInt())
{
String countryName = in.nextLine();
int population = in.nextInt();
in.nextLine(); // Consume the newline
}
 Formatting Output
 Advanced System.out.printf
 Can align strings and numbers
 Can set the field width for each
 Can left align (default is right)
 Two format specifiers example:
System.out.printf("%-10s%10.2f", items[i] + ":", prices[i]);

 %-10s : Left justified String, width 10

 %10.2f : Right justified, 2 decimal places, width 10
 printf Format Specifier
 A format specifier has the following structure:
 The first character is a %
 Next, there are optional “flags” that modify the format,
such as - to indicate left alignment. See Table 2 for the
most common format flags
 Next is the field width, the total number of characters in
the field (including the spaces used for padding),
followed by an optional precision for floating-point
numbers
 The format specifier ends with the format type,
such as f for floating-point values or s for strings.
See Table 3 for the most important formats
printf Format Flags
printf Format Types
 7.3 Command Line Arguments
 Text based programs can be ‘parameterized’ by
using command line arguments
 Filename and options are often typed after the program
name at a command prompt:
>java ProgramClass -v input.dat

public static void main(String[] args)

 Java provides access to them as an array of Strings
parameter to the main method named args
args[0]: "-v"
args[1]: "input.dat"
 The args.length variable holds the number of args
 Options (switches) traditionally begin with a dash ‘-’
 Caesar Cipher Example
 Write a command line program that uses character
replacement (Caesar cipher) to:
1) Encrypt a file provided input and output file names
>java CaesarCipher input.txt encrypt.txt

2) Decrypt a file as an option

>java CaesarCipher –d encrypt.txt output.txt
CaesarCipher.java (1)

This method uses file I/O and

can throw this exception.
CaesarCipher.java (2)

If the switch is present, it is the

first argument

Call the usage method to

print helpful instructions
CaesarCipher.java (3)

Process the input file one

character at a time

Don’t forget the close the files!

Example of a ‘usage’ method

 Steps to Processing Text Files
Read two country data files,
worldpop.txt and worldarea.txt.

Write a file world_pop_density.txt

that contains country names and
population densities with the country
names aligned left and the numbers Afghanistan 50.56
aligned right. Akrotiri 127.64
Albania 125.91
Algria 14.18
American Samoa 288.92
...
 Steps to Processing Text Files
1) Understand the Processing Task
-- Process ‘on the go’ or store data and then process?
2) Determine input and output files
3) Choose how you will get file names
4) Choose line, word or character based input processing
-- If all data is on one line, normally use line input
5) With line-oriented input, extract required data
-- Examine the line and plan for whitespace, delimiters…
6) Use methods to factor out common tasks
 Processing Text Files: Pseudocode
 Step 1: Understand the Task
 While there are more lines to be read
Read a line from each file
Extract the country name
population = number following the country name in
the line from the first file
area = number following the country name in the line
from the second file
If area != 0 Afghanistan 50.56
density = population / area Akrotiri 127.64
Print country name and density Algria
Albania 125.91
14.18
American Samoa 288.92
...
 7.4 Exception Handling
 There are two aspects to dealing with run-time
program errors:
1) Detecting Errors
This is the easy part. You can ‘throw’ an exception
Use the throw statement to if (amount > balance)
{
signal an exception
// Now what?
2) Handling Errors }
This is more complex. You need to ‘catch’ each
possible exception and react to it appropriately

 Handling recoverable errors can be done:

 Simply: exit the program
 User-friendly: As the user to correct the error
 Syntax 7.1: Throwing an Exception
 When you throw an exception, you are throwing an
object of an exception class
 Choose wisely!
 You can also pass a descriptive String to most exception
objects

When you throw an exception, the

normal control flow is terminated.
Exception Classes
 Partial hierarchy of
exception classes
 More general are
above
 More specific are
below

 Darker are Checked

exceptions
 Catching Exceptions
 Exceptions that are thrown must be ‘caught’
somewhere in your program Surround method calls
that can throw exceptions
with a ‘try block’.
FileNotFoundException
NoSuchElementException
NumberFormatException

Write ‘catch blocks’ for

each possible exception.

It is customary to name the

exception parameter either
‘e’ or ‘exception’ in the
catch block.
 Catching Exceptions
 When an exception is detected, execution ‘jumps’
immediately to the first matching catch block
 IOException matches both FileNotFoundException
and NoSuchElementException is not caught

FileNotFoundException
NoSuchElementException

NumberFormatException
 Syntax 7.2: Catching Exceptions

 Some exception handling options:

 Simply inform the user what is wrong
 Give the user another chance to correct an input error
 Print a ‘stack trace’ showing the list of methods called
exception.printStackTrace();
 Checked Exceptions
 Throw/catch applies to three
types of exceptions:
 Error: Internal Errors
• not considered here
 Unchecked: RunTime Exceptions
• Caused by the programmer
• Compiler does not check how you
handle them
 Checked: All other exceptions
• Not the programmer’s fault
• Compiler checks to make sure you
handle these
• Shown darker in Exception Classes
Checked exceptions are due to circumstances
that the programmer cannot prevent.
 Syntax 7.3: The throws Clause
 Methods that use other methods that may throw
exceptions must be declared as such

 Declare all checked exceptions a method throws

 You may also list unchecked exceptions
 The throws Clause (continued)
 If a method handles a checked exception internally, it
will no longer throw the exception.

• The method does not need to declare it in the throws clause

 Declaring exceptions in the throws clause ‘passes the

buck’ to the calling method to handle it or pass it along.
 The finally clause
 finally is an optional clause in a try/catch block
 Used when you need to take some action in a method
whether an exception is thrown or not.
• The finally block is executed in both cases
 Example: Close a file in a method in all cases
public void printOutput(String filename) throws IOException
{
PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(filename);
try
{
writeData(out); // Method may throw an I/O Exception
}
finally Once a try block is entered, the
{ statements in a finally clause are
out.close(); guaranteed to be executed, whether
} or not an exception is thrown.
}
 Syntax 7.4: The finally Clause
 Code in the finally block is always executed
once the try block has been entered
 Programming Tip 7.1
 Throw Early
 When a method detects a problem that it
cannot solve, it is better to throw an exception
rather than try to come up with an imperfect fix.
 Catch Late
 Conversely, a method should only catch an
exception if it can really remedy the situation.
 Otherwise, the best remedy is simply to have
the exception propagate to its caller, allowing it
to be caught by a competent handler.
 Programming Tip 7.2
 Do Not Squelch Exceptions
 When you call a method that throws a checked
exception and you haven’t specified a handler,
the compiler complains.
 It is tempting to write a ‘do-nothing’ catch
block to ‘squelch’ the compiler and come back
to the code later. Bad Idea!
• Exceptions were designed to transmit problem
reports to a competent handler.
• Installing an incompetent handler simply hides an
error condition that could be serious..
 Programming Tip 7.3
 Do not use catch and finally in the
same try block
 The finally clause is executed try

whenever the try block is exited in

any of three ways: catch
1. After completing the last statement of
the try block
finally
2. After completing the last statement of a
catch clause, if this try block caught an
exception
3. When an exception was thrown in the
try block and not caught
 Programming Tip 7.3
 It is better to use two (nested) try clauses to
control the flow
try
try
{ try
PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(filename);
try
{ // Write output }
finally
{ out.close(); } // Close resources finally
}
catch (IOException exception)
{
// Handle exception catch
}
 7.5 Handling Input Errors
 File Reading Application Example
3
 Goal: Read a file of data values 1.45
• First line is the count of values -2.1
• Remaining lines have values 0.05

 Risks:
• The file may not exist
– Scanner constructor will throw an exception
– FileNotFoundException
• The file may have data in the wrong format
– Doesn’t start with a count
» NoSuchElementException
– Too many items (count is too low)
» IOException
 Handling Input Errors: main
 Outline for method with all exception handling
boolean done = false;
while (!done)
{
try
{
// Prompt user for file name
double[] data = readFile(filename); // May throw exceptions
// Process data
done = true;
}
catch (FileNotFoundException exception)
{ System.out.println("File not found."); }
catch (NoSuchElementException exception)
{ System.out.println("File contents invalid."); }
catch (IOException exception)
{ exception.printStackTrace(); }
}
 Handling Input Errors: readFile
 Calls the Scanner constructor
 No exception handling (no catch clauses)
 finally clause closes file in all cases (exception or not)
 throws IOException (back to main)
public static double[] readFile(String filename) throws IOException
{
File inFile = new File(filename);
Scanner in = new Scanner(inFile);
try
{
return readData(in); // May throw exceptions
}
finally
{
in.close();
}
}
 Handling Input Errors: readData
 No exception handling (no try or catch clauses)
 throw creates an IOException object and exits
 unchecked NoSuchElementException can occur
public static double[] readData(Scanner in) throws IOException
{
int numberOfValues = in.nextInt(); // NoSuchElementException
double[] data = new double[numberOfValues];
for (int i = 0; i < numberOfValues; i++)
{
data[i] = in.nextDouble(); // NoSuchElementException
}
if (in.hasNext())
{
throw new IOException("End of file expected");
}
return data;
}
 Summary: Input/Output
 Use the Scanner class for reading text files.
 When writing text files, use the PrintWriter class
and the print/println/printf methods.
 Close all files when you are done processing them.
 Programs that start from the command line receive
command line arguments in the main method.
 Summary: Processing Text Files
 The next method reads a string that is delimited
by white space.
 The Character class has methods for classifying
characters.
 The nextLine method reads an entire line.
 If a string contains the digits of a number, you use
the Integer.parseInt or Double.parseDouble
method to obtain the number value.
 Programs that start from the command line
receive the command line arguments in the main
method.
 Summary: Exceptions (1)
 To signal an exceptional condition, use the throw
statement to throw an exception object.
 When you throw an exception, processing
continues in an exception handler.
 Place statements that can cause an exception
inside a try block, and the handler inside a catch
clause.
 Checked exceptions are due to external
circumstances that the programmer cannot
prevent.
 The compiler checks that your program handles these
exceptions.
 Summary: Exceptions (2)
 Add a throws clause to a method that can throw
a checked exception.
 Once a try block is entered, the statements in a
finally clause are guaranteed to be executed,
whether or not an exception is thrown.
 Throw an exception as soon as a problem is
detected.
 Catch it only when the problem can be handled.
 When designing a program, ask yourself what
kinds of exceptions can occur.
 For each exception, you need to decide which part
of your program can competently handle it.