Is there a way to use the Scanner class inputFile.nextLine()); but have the selection be random?

Asked May 31 '18 at 02:12

Active May 31 '18 at 02:34

Viewed 127 times

I would like my code to pick a random line from my text files.

if (character == 1) { 
  Scanner inputFile = new Scanner(generalcharacters);
  System.out.println("Your character is " + inputFile.nextLine());
  }

Right now I can only figure out how to have it read the "next line" of the text file but the line outputs the same thing every run. How can I make this selection random?

I have looked through the thread of How to get a random line of a text file in Java? SEVERAL times and it doesn't work for me. I tried to use their methods and it printed out several lines of the file instead of one.

When I try to use

if (character == 1) {
   String result = null;
 Random rand = new Random();
 int n = 0;
 for(Scanner sc = new Scanner(fictionalcharacters); sc.hasNext(); )
 {
    ++n;
    String line = sc.nextLine();
    if(rand.nextInt(n) == 0)
       result = line;
       System.out.println(line);         
 }
 }

It prints out the whole list of characters, not just one.

edited May 31 '18 at 02:34

asked May 31 '18 at 02:12

Beth.Bae

I have tried the code from that question and it prints out every single line from the file not just one. – Beth.Bae May 31 '18 at 02:20
Because you didn't actually read the answer. – shmosel May 31 '18 at 02:22
Yes, I did! Several times! It doesn't make sense to me. Maybe I'm missing something but it didn't work for me. – Beth.Bae May 31 '18 at 02:23
You're not supposed to call `choose()` in a loop. That's just a demonstration. – shmosel May 31 '18 at 02:24
Who told you to put a print statement in the loop? And why are you surprised to see it print every line? – shmosel May 31 '18 at 17:50

Is there a way to use the Scanner class inputFile.nextLine()); but have the selection be random?

0 Answers0