How can I check if an InputStream is empty without reading from it?

Question

I want to know if an InputStream is empty, but without using the method read(). Is there a way to know if it\'s empty without reading from it?

Answer 1

Based on the suggestion of using the PushbackInputStream, you'll find an exemple implementation here:

/**
 * @author Lorber Sebastien (lorber.sebastien@gmail.com)
 */
public class NonEmptyInputStream extends FilterInputStream {

  /**
   * Once this stream has been created, do not consume the original InputStream 
   * because there will be one missing byte...
   * @param originalInputStream
   * @throws IOException
   * @throws EmptyInputStreamException
   */
  public NonEmptyInputStream(InputStream originalInputStream) throws IOException, EmptyInputStreamException {
    super( checkStreamIsNotEmpty(originalInputStream) );
  }


  /**
   * Permits to check the InputStream is empty or not
   * Please note that only the returned InputStream must be consummed.
   *
   * see:
   * http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1524299/how-can-i-check-if-an-inputstream-is-empty-without-reading-from-it
   *
   * @param inputStream
   * @return
   */
  private static InputStream checkStreamIsNotEmpty(InputStream inputStream) throws IOException, EmptyInputStreamException {
    Preconditions.checkArgument(inputStream != null,"The InputStream is mandatory");
    PushbackInputStream pushbackInputStream = new PushbackInputStream(inputStream);
    int b;
    b = pushbackInputStream.read();
    if ( b == -1 ) {
      throw new EmptyInputStreamException("No byte can be read from stream " + inputStream);
    }
    pushbackInputStream.unread(b);
    return pushbackInputStream;
  }

  public static class EmptyInputStreamException extends RuntimeException {
    public EmptyInputStreamException(String message) {
      super(message);
    }
  }

}

And here are some passing tests:

  @Test(expected = EmptyInputStreamException.class)
  public void test_check_empty_input_stream_raises_exception_for_empty_stream() throws IOException {
    InputStream emptyStream = new ByteArrayInputStream(new byte[0]);
    new NonEmptyInputStream(emptyStream);
  }

  @Test
  public void test_check_empty_input_stream_ok_for_non_empty_stream_and_returned_stream_can_be_consummed_fully() throws IOException {
    String streamContent = "HELLooooô wörld";
    InputStream inputStream = IOUtils.toInputStream(streamContent, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
    inputStream = new NonEmptyInputStream(inputStream);
    assertThat(IOUtils.toString(inputStream,StandardCharsets.UTF_8)).isEqualTo(streamContent);
  }