How do I read in a file and count characters?

Question

I need help on how to start a Java class.

The class defines a method or methods that first reads in a file then reads its characters one by one. After doing this it is to see how many of those characters form words by looking for things like '.' and ' '. After all that, keep count of how many words and put them on a hashmap.

I know how to use a for loop to look for the ' ', ',', '.' etc. and keeping count of words

But I don't know how to read in a file that reads character by character a file.

My TA said something about the 'put' and 'get' method? no idea what they are :S

Therefore I know how to do pretty much everything except the beginning. sorry I can't show you a method of the second half before knowing how to do the first half.

Any help to get this started .. thanks!

you can start by reading this http://docs.oracle.com/javase/1.4.2/docs/api/java/io/Reader.html — , Feb 14 '12 at 16:21
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2049380/reading-a-text-file-in-java — m0skit0, Feb 14 '12 at 16:21
`put(K key, V value)` and `get(K key)` are methods from the `Map` interface (call them on your hashmap, for example) — Andreas Dolk, Feb 14 '12 at 16:23
It is homework, that I had a week to work on .. and I still don't understand it. That's why i came here searching for help. If i didn't need help .. i wouldn't come here :P — Om Patel, Feb 14 '12 at 18:48

DaveJohnston · Answer 1 · 2012-02-14T17:16:18.367

1

A Reader will allow you to read data character at a time (e.g. you could use an InputStreamReader together with a FileInputStream to read from a File)

Also make sure you specify the character encoding of the file you are reading, this ensures correct conversion from bytes to chars.

BufferedReader input = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(new FileInputStream("path/to/file"), "charset e.g. utf-8"));

edited Feb 14 '12 at 17:16

answered Feb 14 '12 at 16:23

DaveJohnston

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How do I read in a file and count characters?

1 Answers1