The Scanner.nextLine() is a method in the Java Scanner class that returns a line of text that is read from the scanner object. This method can be used to read an entire line of text or to read input until a particular character or sequence is encountered. It is typically used to read user input from the console.
The Scanner.nextLine() is different from other Scanner methods. For example, the nextInt() method reads an entire line of text, rather than stopping at a delimiter character.
Let's view the syntax for this method:
Scanner.nextLine()
This method does not take any parameters.
This method returns the next line of text that is read from the scanner object.
Let's look at the code below:
import java.util.Scanner;class HelloWorld {public static void main(String[] args) {Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);System.out.println("Enter your name: ");String name = scanner.nextLine();System.out.println("Hello, " + name + "!");}}
Enter the input below
In the example above, nextLine() is used to read a line of text (the user's name) from the console. The input is then stored in the name variable and printed to the console.
Note: The
nextLine()returns an empty string if called immediately after another Scanner method, such asnextInt(). This is becausenextInt()reads only the next token (int), and not the rest of the lines. Below is the code example to demonstrate this:
import java.util.Scanner;class HelloWorld {public static void main(String[] args) {Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);System.out.print("Enter your age: ");int age = scanner.nextInt();// consume the newline characterscanner.nextLine();// nextLine() returns an empty string after nextInt() is calledString name = scanner.nextLine();System.out.println("Hello, " + name + ". You are " + age + " years old.");}}
Enter the input below
This is fixed by adding a call to scanner.nextLine(). This consumes the newline character that is left over from the previous call to nextInt(). This allows us to correctly read the user's name.
We learned how to use the nextLine() method in the Java Scanner class. This method can be used to read an entire line of text or stop reading input at a particular character or sequence. It is often used when reading user input from the console.