taking multiple inputs in a specific format as a single input in java

Question

I have been using the scanner so far for taking inputs in java but what i need for this particular task is setting values for 4 variables with a single line input i.e. 07:05:45PM

The C equivalent solution for this particular solution is as follows:

scanf("%d:%d:%d%s", &hh, &mm, &ss, t12) ;

I am looking for the java equivalent of this code.

"what i need for this particular task is setting values for 4 variables with a single line input" -- **Why?** — Erwin Bolwidt, Jun 06 '17 at 10:18
Can't you take the input in a string variable and then use `split` or `substring` functions to suit your requirements? — Abhishek Agarwal, Jun 06 '17 at 10:57

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 06 '17 at 10:36

You could use a Scanner instance by setting to it a delimiter such as "\\s*:\\s*".

It could give this code :

Scanner s = new Scanner("07:05:45PM").useDelimiter("\\s*:\\s*");

int hours = s.nextInt();
int minutes = s.nextInt();
String secondAndMeridiem = s.next();
int seconds = Integer.valueOf(secondAndMeridiem.substring(0, 2));
String meridiem = secondAndMeridiem.substring(2, 4);

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 06 '17 at 10:30

You can try delimiter option in scanner, but it will not support multiple delimiters together. So it will not support your requirement of ""%d:%d:%d%s"" fully.

Please have a look at

How to read comma separated integer inputs in java

Just curious to know, why don't you look at the SimpleDateFormatter to parse the single string and get hour, minutes, seconds

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 06 '17 at 10:45

The closest I could get is this but this would work only if there was some delimiter between 45 and PM in 07:05:45PM like 07:05:45 PM. Otherwise, the input needs to be taken as String and parsed.

static Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);

public static void main(String[] args) {
  int hh, mm, ss;
  String t12;
  scanner.useDelimiter("[:\n ]");
  hh = scanner.nextInt();
  mm = scanner.nextInt();
  ss = scanner.nextInt();
  t12 = scanner.next();
  System.out.println(hh);
  System.out.println(mm);
  System.out.println(ss);
  System.out.println(t12);
}

taking multiple inputs in a specific format as a single input in java

3 Answers3