Java: How to get input from System.console()

Question

I am trying to use Console class to get input from user but a null object is returned when I call System.console(). Do I have to change anything before using Sy

Answer 1

There are few ways to read input string from your console/keyboard. The following sample code shows how to read a string from the console/keyboard by using Java.

public class ConsoleReadingDemo {

public static void main(String[] args) {

    // ====
    BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
    System.out.print("Please enter user name : ");
    String username = null;
    try {
        username = reader.readLine();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    System.out.println("You entered : " + username);

    // ===== In Java 5, Java.util,Scanner is used for this purpose.
    Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
    System.out.print("Please enter user name : ");
    username = in.nextLine();      
    System.out.println("You entered : " + username);


    // ====== Java 6
    Console console = System.console();
    username = console.readLine("Please enter user name : ");   
    System.out.println("You entered : " + username);

}
}

The last part of code used java.io.Console class. you can not get Console instance from System.console() when running the demo code through Eclipse. Because eclipse runs your application as a background process and not as a top-level process with a system console.