Reading a specific line from a text file in Java

Question

Is there any method to read a specific line from a text file ? In the API or Apache Commons. Something like :

String readLine(File file, int lineNumber)
         


        

Answer 1

Because files are byte and not line orientated - any general solutions complexity will be O(n) at best with n being the files size in bytes. You have to scan the whole file and count the line delimiters until you know which part of the file you want to read.