Taking Character Input with Java Scanner
How to Take Character Input in Java Using Scanner
In this tutorial, we'll learn how to take a character input using the Scanner class in Java. We'll be using the next() method of the Scanner class to read a single character as an input. We'll also discuss the different ways to take a character input in Java.
Using the next() Method of Scanner Class
The easiest way to take a character input from the user is to use the next() method of the Scanner class. This method reads the next character from the input stream and returns it as a string.
Let's look at an example to understand it better:
import java.util.Scanner;
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
// Read a single character
String ch = sc.next();
// Print the character
System.out.println("You entered: " + ch);
}
}
In this example, we have used the next() method to read a single character from the user. We've stored the character in a string variable and then printed it.
The output of this code will be something like this:
Enter a character: a You entered: a
Using the nextLine() Method of Scanner Class
Another way to take a character input is to use the nextLine() method, which reads a line of text from the input stream. Since, a line of text may consist of more than one character, we can use the charAt() method of the String class to get the first character of the line.
import java.util.Scanner;
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
// Read a line of text
String line = sc.nextLine();
// Get the first character
char ch = line.charAt(0);
// Print the character
System.out.println("You entered: " + ch);
}
}
In this example, we have used the nextLine() method to read a line of text from the user. We've then extracted the first character from the line and stored it in a character variable. Finally, we've printed the character.
The output of this code will be something like this:
Enter a character: hello You entered: h
Conclusion
In this tutorial, we learned how to take a character input using the Scanner class in Java. We discussed two ways - using the next() method and the nextLine() method - and saw them through examples. Thanks for reading!