Reading txt files and display the data with a line break

Question

Here is my code for reading a txt file, but I can't seem to properly arrange the output of the file content.

This is the file content:

venti lador 13 male taguig

pito dingal 26 male pateros

dony martinez 24 male hagonoy

package testprojects;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.FileReader;

public class ReadTextFile {
    public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception {
        BufferedReader bf = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("C://Users/PAO/Desktop/sampletxt.txt"));
        String line;

        while ((line = bf.readLine()) != null) {
            String[] value = line.split(" ");

            for (int x = 0; x < value.length; x++) {
                if (x >= 5) {
                    System.out.println();
                }
                System.out.print(value[x] + " ");
            }
        }
    }
}

Output:

venti lador 13 male taguig pito dingal 26 male pateros dony martinez 24 male hagonoy

Desired output:

venti lador 13 male taguig

pito dingal 26 male pateros

dony martinez 24 male hagonoy

Please ensure your question is formatted properly in order for us to understand what your current output is and what your desired output is. Line breaks are getting lost in translation and it is almost impossible to follow. — Claudio, Apr 21 '15 at 16:14
How many elements are in value after you perform the split? Do you want all the elements to be on the same line or broken apart to multiple lines? How many items per line do you want? — Shar1er80, Apr 21 '15 at 16:16
Be clearer on what your inputs and what you want your outputs to be. Now that you have "working" code, go into your sampletxt.txt and break apart the lines, in the file, into more lines and will you still get the expected results that you want? It's good that you got your code to work, but it's better to understand (for learning) other scenarios of data that you could potentially have and your code can handle all scenarios. — Shar1er80, Apr 21 '15 at 17:27

Jean-François Savard · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-21T16:39:02.273

3

Change your condition to

if((x + 1) % 5 == 0 || (x == value.length - 1))

So that it will skip line at each 5 datas or if your reach the last data of your row.

You would have something like this :

System.out.print(value[x] + " " );
if((x + 1) % 5 == 0 || (x == value.length - 1))
    System.out.println();

edited Apr 21 '15 at 16:39

answered Apr 21 '15 at 16:09

Jean-François Savard

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So what happens if the first line read from the file has 3 values, and the next line read from the file has 5 values? – Shar1er80 Apr 21 '15 at 16:25
I still don't think this will get what the OP wants, which sounds like each line will have the same number of values with the possibility that the last line could have lass values on it. – Shar1er80 Apr 21 '15 at 16:33
@Shar1er80 The new condition does not consider only the last line. If a line have 3 datas, and x == 2 then a linefeed will be added. – Jean-François Savard Apr 21 '15 at 16:34
sir the output still doesn't change when i tried this – matinik estugante Apr 21 '15 at 16:35
this only prints 4 data the last data is being separated on the next line – matinik estugante Apr 21 '15 at 16:37
@matinikestugante You need to print the data before, then print the linefeed. See my edit, I added code. – Jean-François Savard Apr 21 '15 at 16:38
1

oh yea now the output is correct. I'm amazed there are so many ways writing a code. – matinik estugante Apr 21 '15 at 16:44
If the OP wants 5 values per line, and you're going to control the line feed based on the for loop counter, then what happens when every line has less than 5 values on it? You'd end up printing only the number of values per line. You might as well just print the line as your read it, there is no need to split it. – Shar1er80 Apr 21 '15 at 16:45
instead of this (x + 1) % 5 == 0 why can't i just use x>=5 or x==5? – matinik estugante Apr 21 '15 at 16:46
@matinikestugante >= 5 would print a linefeed between each data if x is higher then 5. % 5 make sure that it is a multiple of 5. – Jean-François Savard Apr 21 '15 at 16:47
oh i see how about the -1 what's that for? sorry for silly questions – matinik estugante Apr 21 '15 at 16:55
@matinikestugante Because since index start at 0, if we want to validate that the current index is the last of the array we need to compare with the length - 1. – Jean-François Savard Apr 21 '15 at 16:55
@matinikestugante When you read a line from your file, how many values are in that line? and how many values do you want to display on each line? – Shar1er80 Apr 21 '15 at 16:59
oh yeah i get it now! uhm 5 data per line and 3 lines all. – matinik estugante Apr 21 '15 at 17:11

Shar1er80 · Answer 2 · 2015-04-21T16:50:54.743

You don't need the if statement for a line break, just put your println() after your for loop.

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {    
    BufferedReader bf = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("C://Users/PAO/Desktop/sampletxt.txt"));

    String line;

    while((line=bf.readLine())!=null){
        String[] value=line.split(" ");

        for (String value1 : value) {
            System.out.print(value1 + " ");
        }
        System.out.println(""); // Goes to the next line after printing all values
    }
}

If you're wanting a certain number of values per line (5 for example) try the following:

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {    
    BufferedReader bf = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("C://Users/PAO/Desktop/sampletxt.txt"));

    String line;

    int count = 0;
    while((line=bf.readLine())!=null){
        String[] value=line.split(" ");

        for (String value1 : value) {
            System.out.print(value1 + " ");
            count++;

            if (count == 5) { // Five values per line before a line break
                System.out.println("");
                count = 0;
            }
        }
    }
}

If you're just printing out what is in the file, I don't see why you have to perform the split. You're splitting on a single space and then you're printing the values back out with a space in between each value. Just print the line that was read from the file.

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {    
    BufferedReader bf = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("C://Users/PAO/Desktop/sampletxt.txt"));

    String line;
    while((line=bf.readLine())!=null){
        System.out.println(line);
    }
}

It seems that he wants to do that. I mean, to print a line break every x amount of items. — Claudio, Apr 21 '15 at 16:14
@matinikestugante My edits should give you want you're looking for then. — Shar1er80, Apr 21 '15 at 16:23
If you're wanting 5 values per line, that a little difficult to do using your for loop counter. Say the first line your read from your file has 3 values in it. So far you've printed 3 values on one line. Then the next line you read from your file has 5 values, you'll end up writing those 5 values on the same line as the previous 3 values. Is that what you're wanting? If not, you should track the number of values written on a line with a separate counter. — Shar1er80, Apr 21 '15 at 16:28
Yea i accept your suggested edit. btw your way of making a code is sick! — matinik estugante, Apr 21 '15 at 16:28

Reading txt files and display the data with a line break

2 Answers2