User Inputs in Java

In this post, we will learn how to take user inputs in Java using the Scanner class.

The Scanner class is used to get user input, and it is found in the java.util package.

To use the Scanner class, create an object of the class and use any of the available methods found in the Scanner class documentation. In our example, we will use the nextLine() method, which is used to read Strings:

Example:

import java.util.Scanner;  // Import the Scanner class
public class Main {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);  // Create a Scanner object
    System.out.println("Enter your name:");   // Prompt the user for input
    String userName = scanner.nextLine();      // Read user input and store it in a variable
    System.out.println("Hello, " + userName);  // Output user input
    scanner.close();                           // Close the scanner
  }
}

In the example above, we first import the Scanner class from the java.util package. We then create a Scanner object named scanner to read input from the standard input stream (keyboard). We prompt the user to enter their name, read the input using nextLine(), and store it in the variable userName. Finally, we print a greeting message that includes the user’s name.

Input Types

In the example above, we used the nextLine() method, which is used to read Strings. To read other types, look at the table below:

Method	Description
nextBoolean()	Reads a boolean value from the user
nextByte()	Reads a byte value from the user
nextDouble()	Reads a double value from the user
nextFloat()	Reads a float value from the user
nextInt()	Reads a int value from the user
nextLine()	Reads a String value from the user
nextLong()	Reads a long value from the user
nextShort()	Reads a short value from the user

That’s it for now! See you in the next post!

Happy hacking!