Develop Reference

Retrieve lines in txt file and append new inputs from the user java

I'm using an arraylist to append inputs and send the arraylist elements to file. However, everytime I exit the program and run it again, the contents in the written in the file becomes empty.
ArrayList<String> memory = new ArrayList<String>();
public void fileHandling() {
try {
FileWriter fWriter = new FileWriter("notes.data");
for (int x = 0; x <= memory.size() - 1; x++) {
fWriter.write(memory.get(x) + '\n');
}
fWriter.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println(e);
}
}
public void createNote() {
Scanner insertNote = new Scanner(System.in);
LocalDate todayDate = LocalDate.now();
LocalTime nowTime = LocalTime.now();
String timeFormat = nowTime.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedTime(FormatStyle.MEDIUM));
String dateTime = todayDate.toString() + " at " + timeFormat;
while (true) {
System.out.println();
System.out.println("Enter a note");
System.out.print("> ");
String note = insertNote.nextLine();
if (note == null) {
System.out.println("Invalid input! Try again");
break;
} else {
memory.add(note + " /" + dateTime);
fileHandling();
System.out.println("Note is saved!\n");
break;
}
}
I expect the program to save the contents of every input. Then if I exit and run the program again, the contents will go back to the array

Your code currently does the following:
You enter something (X) for the first time:
It gets added to the ArrayList
The ArrayList gets written into the file
Your file now contains: X
You enter something second (Y):
It gets added to the ArrayList (Which now contains: X, Y)
The ArrayList gets written into the file
Your file now contains: X + newline + Y
Your Problem is, that everytime you create a new FileWrite it overwrites your file.
This can be avoided by using the constructor like this:
FileWriter writer = new FileWriter("notes.data", true);
This sets it into the append mode and therefore keeps previous data in the file

You don't need to create a separate Scanner, in method createNote(), in order to get a "note" from the user.
It is usually better to write your code using the interface rather than the specific implementation because then you usually need to change less code if you decide to change the implementation. Hence the type for member variable memory should probably be List rather than ArrayList.
Note that ArrayList may waste memory if the list of "note"s is large. I suggest using LinkedList instead. Alternatively, use an array (rather than a List) and handle expanding the array when adding a "note" as well as reducing the array when removing a "note".
Having an infinite loop, i.e. while (true), which contains a single if-else where both the if block and the else block contain break statements, means that the loop will perform exactly one iteration. May as well remove the while loop – which means also removing the break statements.
Rather than writing the code that generates a timestamp repeatedly, you should adopt the DRY principle and extract that code into a separate method.
The file name should be a constant so as to minimize the amount of code changes you will need to do if you decide to change the file name.
By convention, text files have a filename extension of .txt whereas binary files have the .data extension.
Although you don't need to, I personally prefer to initialize class member variables in the constructor.
The below code is a SSCCE, hence I added a main method. More notes appear after the code.
package Methods;
import java.util.*;
import java.time.format.*;
import java.time.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.nio.charset.Charset;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.nio.file.StandardOpenOption;
public class FileSys {
private static final String FILENAME = "notes.txt";
private static final String CREATE = "C";
private static final String DELETE = "D";
private static final String FIND = "F";
private static final String QUIT = "Q";
private static final String SHOW = "S";
private static final String UPDATE = "U";
Scanner reader;
List<String> memory;
public FileSys() throws IOException {
reader = new Scanner(System.in);
memory = new LinkedList<String>();
loadFile();
}
public void fileHandling() {
Path path = Paths.get(FILENAME);
try (BufferedWriter bw = Files.newBufferedWriter(path,
StandardOpenOption.CREATE,
StandardOpenOption.WRITE);
PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(bw)) {
for (String write : memory) {
pw.println(write);
}
}
catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void createNote() {
String dateTime = getTimestamp();
System.out.println();
System.out.println("Enter a note");
System.out.print("> ");
String note = reader.nextLine();
memory.add(note + " / " + dateTime);
fileHandling();
System.out.println("Note is saved!");
}
public void searchNote() {
System.out.print("\nEnter note number: ");
try {
int search = reader.nextInt();
reader.nextLine();
System.out.println("\nSearch result:");
int index = memory.indexOf(memory.get(search - 1));
if (index != -1) {
System.out.println("[" + (index + 1) + "]" + " " + memory.get(search - 1));
}
else {
System.out.println("Note number-" + search + " is not found in the collection!");
}
}
catch (IndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
System.out.println("The note number you have entered is invalid!");
}
}
public void updateNote() {
String dateTime = getTimestamp(); // ZonedDateTime.now(ZoneId.systemDefault()).format(dateTimeObj);
System.out.print("\nEnter note number to change: ");
try {
int search = reader.nextInt();
int index = memory.indexOf(memory.get(search - 1));
String updateLine;
if (index != -1) {
System.out.println("\nCurrent note: ");
System.out.println("[" + (index + 1) + "]" + " " + memory.get(search - 1));
System.out.println("\nThe updated note will be: ");
System.out.print("> ");
reader.nextLine();
updateLine = reader.nextLine();
memory.set(index, updateLine + " /" + dateTime);
System.out.print("Note has been updated successfully!\n");
}
else {
System.out.println(search + " is not found in the collection!");
}
}
catch (IndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
System.out.println("The note number you have entered is invalid!");
}
fileHandling();
}
public void deleteNote() {
System.out.print("\nEnter note number to delete: ");
try {
int search = reader.nextInt();
reader.nextLine();
int index = memory.indexOf(memory.get(search - 1));
System.out.println();
if (index != -1) {
System.out.println("[" + (index + 1) + "]" + " " + memory.get(search - 1));
System.out.print("\nDo you want to delete this note? \n[y] or [n]: ");
char delDecision = reader.nextLine().charAt(0);
if (delDecision == 'y' || delDecision == 'Y') {
memory.remove(index);
System.out.println("Note has been deleted successfully!");
System.out.println();
}
else if (delDecision == 'n' || delDecision == 'N') {
System.out.println("Note was not deleted!");
}
else {
System.out.println("Invalid input!");
}
}
else {
System.out.println(search + " is not found in the collection!");
}
}
catch (IndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
System.out.println("The note number you have entered is invalid!");
}
fileHandling();
}
public void displayNote() {
if (memory.size() > 0) {
int counter = 0;
for (String note : memory) {
System.out.printf("%d. %s%n", ++counter, note);
}
}
else {
System.out.println("There are no notes.");
}
}
private String getTimestamp() {
LocalDate todayDate = LocalDate.now();
LocalTime nowTime = LocalTime.now();
String timeFormat = nowTime.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedTime(FormatStyle.MEDIUM));
String dateTime = todayDate.toString() + " at " + timeFormat;// ZonedDateTime.now(ZoneId.systemDefault()).format(dateTimeObj);
return dateTime;
}
private void loadFile() throws IOException {
Path path = Paths.get(FILENAME);
if (Files.isRegularFile(path)) {
memory.addAll(Files.readAllLines(path, Charset.defaultCharset()));
}
}
private void showMenu() {
String choice = "";
while (!QUIT.equalsIgnoreCase(choice)) {
System.out.println(CREATE + " - Create note");
System.out.println(DELETE + " - Delete note");
System.out.println(FIND + " - Search notes");
System.out.println(SHOW + " - Show notes");
System.out.println(UPDATE + " - Update note");
System.out.println(QUIT + " - Quit");
System.out.println();
System.out.print("Your choice: ");
choice = reader.nextLine();
if (!choice.isEmpty()) {
choice = choice.substring(0, 1);
choice = choice.toUpperCase();
switch (choice) {
case CREATE -> createNote();
case DELETE -> deleteNote();
case FIND -> searchNote();
case SHOW -> displayNote();
case UPDATE -> updateNote();
case QUIT -> System.out.println("Good bye.");
default -> System.out.println("Invalid: " + choice);
}
}
else {
System.out.println("No selection entered. Retry.");
}
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
FileSys fs = new FileSys();
fs.showMenu();
}
catch (IOException xIo) {
xIo.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
Your code does not initially load memory with contents of file notes.txt so I added that in the constructor. Consequently you don't need to append to the file since you simply overwrite it with contents of memory.
The file handling is done using NIO.2 including try-with-resources – which was added in Java 7. There are more NIO.2 examples in the JDK documentation.
Whenever the code throws an unexpected exception, it is nearly always a good idea to print the stack trace.

Retrieve saved data from a text file but only show a portion of the data Java JGrasp

I have programmed a game were I have made it so that you can save your score, if you have a good score you will be in the top 10. My problem is when I retrieve the data with the saved names, I only want a proportion of that data to be shown, in this case 10 names.
Here is my code.
public static void Highscore(List<Highscore> data) {
String HighscoreList = "";
try {
//Textfilens name
String filname = "Highscore.txt";
Scanner inFil = new Scanner(new File(filname));
while(inFil.hasNext()) {
String name = inFil.next();
String percent = inFil.next();
HighscoreLista += name + "\n" + percent + "%" + "\n\n";
} inFil.close();
} catch (FileNotFoundException e1) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"File was not found!");
}
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, HighscoreList);
}//Highscore ends
How do I only show a proportion of the players in the final message (Highscorelist).
Thank you for helping.

Create a counter variable in the function to track the number of items in the while loop and check the counter variable along with the while condition
public static void Highscore(List<Highscore> data) {
String HighscoreList = "";
int counter =0;
try {
//Textfilens name
String filname = "Highscore.txt";
Scanner inFil = new Scanner(new File(filname));
while(inFil.hasNext() && counter<=10) {
counter++;
String name = inFil.next();
String percent = inFil.next();
HighscoreLista += name + "\n" + percent + "%" + "\n\n";
} inFil.close();
} catch (FileNotFoundException e1) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"File was not found!");
}
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, HighscoreList);
}//Highscore ends

Loading/reading a .txt file

My last assignment in my intro to Java class asked us to:
Write a console-based (AKA command line based) menu for your user to interact with.
Include the following commands in the menu (you must write code for each):
Input a list of students, use the menu from ArrayDemo: Display, Add, Remove, etc.
Save the list of students to a file using a filename provided by your user
Load the list of students from a file using a filename provided by your user.
I have already done 1-3. How can I get my program to load the info in a .txt file? (Honestly I am not sure if this is what my teacher means when he says loading, because i feel like this may be a bit more complicated than what we have gone over)
I have been able to get my program to open the .txt file with Notepad but I have no idea how to get it to read the whole file and/or save the text info into my program.
import java.util.*;
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.io.*;
public class ArrayDemo_File {
private static Student[] StudentList = new Student[10];
private static FileWriter file;
private static PrintWriter output;
private static FileReader fr;
public static void StudentIndex() {
int index = 0;
while (index < StudentList.length) {
if(StudentList[index] != null) {
System.out.println(index + ": " + StudentList[index].getLName() + ", "
+ StudentList[index].getFName());
}
else {
return;
}
index++;
}
}
// View detailed data for Students listed in the index
public static void IndexData() {
int index = 0;
while (index < StudentList.length) {
if(StudentList[index] !=null) {
System.out.println(index + ": " + StudentList[index].getLName() + ", " + StudentList[index].getFName());
System.out.println("A Number: \t" + StudentList[index].getANum());
System.out.println("Address: \t" + StudentList[index].getAddress());
System.out.println();
}
else {
return;
}
index++;
}
}
// ADD STUDENT
public static void AddStudent() throws IOException {
// Memory
Student student = new Student();
Address address = new Address();
Scanner kb = new Scanner(System.in);
String last;
String frst;
int num;
int house;
String Street;
String City;
String State;
int Zip;
String Line2;
// Student Name and ID
System.out.println();
System.out.print("Last Name:\t");
last = kb.nextLine();
System.out.println();
System.out.print("First Name:\t");
frst = kb.nextLine();
System.out.println();
System.out.print("A Number:\tA");
num = kb.nextInt();
//Address
System.out.println();
System.out.print("What is your house number?\t");
house = kb.nextInt();
kb.nextLine();
System.out.println();
System.out.print("What is your Street's name?\t");
Street = kb.nextLine();
System.out.println();
System.out.print("What is your city?\t");
City = kb.nextLine();
System.out.println();
System.out.print("What is your State?\t");
State = kb.nextLine();
System.out.println();
System.out.print("What is your zip code?\t");
Zip = kb.nextInt();
kb.nextLine();
System.out.println();
System.out.print("Line 2: \t");
Line2 = kb.nextLine();
System.out.println("");
// Processing
address = new Address( house, Street, City, State, Zip, Line2 );
student = new Student(last, frst, num, address);
int index = 0;
while( index < StudentList.length ) {
if( StudentList[index] == null ) break;
index++;
}
StudentList[index] = student;
}
// REMOVE STUDENT
public static void RemoveStudent() {
System.out.println("Remove student");
int index = 0;
while (index < StudentList.length) {
if (StudentList[index] !=null) {
System.out.println(index + ": " + StudentList[index].getLName() + " " + StudentList[index].getFName());
}
index++;
}
Scanner kb = new Scanner(System.in);
int response;
System.out.println(" Please enter student number to remove or -1 to cancel removal");
System.out.print("\nInput: ");
response = Integer.parseInt(kb.nextLine());
if (response != -1) {
StudentList[response] = null;
}
Student[] StudentListTemp = new Student[10];
int nulls = 0;
for(int x = 0; x < StudentList.length; x++) {
if (StudentList[x] == null) {
nulls++;
}
else {
StudentListTemp[x - nulls] = StudentList[x];
}
}
StudentList = StudentListTemp;
}
public static void WriteFile() throws IOException {
String fileName;
Scanner kb = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.println("Please enter a name for your file: ");
fileName = kb.nextLine();
output = new PrintWriter(fileName + ".txt");
for( int x = 0; x < StudentList.length; x++ ) {
if( StudentList[x] == null )
continue;
output.println( "[" + x + "]" );
output.println( StudentList[x].getFName() );
output.println( StudentList[x].getLName() );
output.println( StudentList[x].getAddress() );
}
output.close();
System.out.println("\n\tFile saved successfully!");
}
public static void loadFile() throws IOException {
Student student = new Student();
String fileName;
Scanner kb = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.println("Please enter the name of the file: ");
fileName = kb.nextLine();
File file = new File(fileName + ".txt");
if(!file.exists()) {
System.err.println("\n\tError(404)): File Not Found!");
}
else {
System.out.println("\n\tFile found! It will now open!");
//FileReader fr = new FileReader(fileName + ".txt");
//System.out.println(fr);
ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("Notepad.exe", fileName + ".txt");
pb.start();
}
}
//CONSOLE MENU
public static void Menu() throws IOException {
Scanner kb = new Scanner(System.in);
int response;
boolean run = true;
while(run) {
System.out.println("--------------------------" );
System.out.println(" OPTIONS: ");
System.out.println(" 0) View Student Names ");
System.out.println(" 1) View Student details ");
System.out.println(" 2) Add Student ");
System.out.println(" 3) Remove Student ");
System.out.println(" 4) Save to File ");
System.out.println(" 5) Load File ");
System.out.println(" 6) Close Program ");
System.out.println("-------------------------- ");
System.out.print(" Choose an option: ");
response = Integer.parseInt(kb.nextLine());
System.out.println();
switch(response) {
case 0:
StudentIndex();
break;
case 1:
IndexData();
break;
case 2:
AddStudent();
break;
case 3:
RemoveStudent();
break;
case 4:
WriteFile();
break;
case 5:
loadFile();
break;
case 6:
run = false;
break;
default:
System.out.println(" ERROR: "+ response + " ! ");
}
}
System.out.println( "Have a nice day!" );
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
// StudentList[0] = new Student("Doe", "Jon", 0000, new Address(00, "Road", "City", "State", 37343, "000"));
// StudentList[1] = new Student("Ricketts", "Caleb", 0001, new Address(000, "000", "000", "0000", 000, "000"));
// StudentList[2] = new Student("Smith", "Amanda", 2222, new Address(000, "000", "000", "000", 000, "000"));
// StudentList[3] = new Student("Wilson", "Judy", 3333, new Address(000, "000", "000", "000", 000, "000"));
Menu();
}
}
I tried using the filereader to read the file but it doesn't output anything. Not sure what I am doing wrong.

Use these code you can write a text file in SDCard along with you need to set permission in android manifest:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
before writing files also check whether your SDCard is Mounted & your external storage state is writable
Environment.getExternalStorageState()
Cod:
public void generateNoteOnSD(String sFileName, String sBody){
try
{
File root = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory(), "Notes");
if (!root.exists()) {
root.mkdirs();
}
File gpxfile = new File(root, sFileName);
FileWriter writer = new FileWriter(gpxfile);
writer.append(sBody);
writer.flush();
writer.close();
Toast.makeText(this, "Saved", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
catch(IOException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
importError = e.getMessage();
iError();
}
}
Check the http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/data-storage.html

Scanner does a good job of reading .txt files. Use another Scanner object to read through the file, one line at a time. After the code completes, each line of the file will be stored in list, with each line at the corresponding index (ex: list.get(0) will return the first line, list.get(1) the second, etc).
public static void loadFile()
{
Student student = new Student();
String fileName;
Scanner kb = new Scanner(System.in);
Scanner read;
ArrayList<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();
System.out.println("Please enter the name of the file: ");
fileName = kb.nextLine();
File file = new File(fileName + ".txt");
if(!file.exists())
{
System.err.println("\n\tError(404)): File Not Found!");
} else {
System.out.println("\n\tFile found! It will now open!");
read = new Scanner(file);
//FileReader fr = new FileReader(fileName + ".txt");
//System.out.println(fr);
//ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("Notepad.exe", fileName + ".txt");
//pb.start();
while(read.hasNextLine()) {
String currentLine = read.nextLine();
list.add(currentLine);
}
}
}

Implemented method getting NullPointerException

I have an implemented method which visits the node of a binary tree. I have a word class which implements this through an interface called TreeComparable.
Here is the visit method:
#Override
public void visit() {
System.out.printf("%-15s%-7s", getWord(), count);
pw.printf("%-15s%-7s", getWord(), count);
ObjectListNode p = list.getFirstNode();
while (p != null) {
System.out.print(((LinePosition) p.getInfo()).getLineNumber() + "-" + ((LinePosition) p.getInfo()).getPosition() + " ");
pw.print(((LinePosition) p.getInfo()).getLineNumber() + "-" + ((LinePosition) p.getInfo()).getPosition() + " ");
p = p.getNext();
}
System.out.println();
pw.println();
}
I am getting errors with the PrintWriter Object. I am getting a nullPointerException. I have a default constructor that is part of the class that is implementing this visit method.
This is the default constructor being used when creating a word object.
public Word(PrintWriter pw) {
this.pw = pw;
}
Everything works if I comment out trying to write to the text file:
#Override
public void visit() {
System.out.printf("%-15s%-7s", getWord(), count);
//pw.printf("%-15s%-7s", getWord(), count);
ObjectListNode p = list.getFirstNode();
while (p != null) {
System.out.print(((LinePosition) p.getInfo()).getLineNumber() + "-" + ((LinePosition) p.getInfo()).getPosition() + " ");
//pw.print(((LinePosition) p.getInfo()).getLineNumber() + "-" + ((LinePosition) p.getInfo()).getPosition() + " ");
p = p.getNext();
}
System.out.println();
//pw.println();
}
however, for this assignment I need to print out the outputs to a text file. Why is the printwriter object not getting passed in correctly?Thanks for any input!
EDIT:
Here are a few places where I tried to call the constructor:
public class Query {
PrintWriter pw;
public Query(PrintWriter pw) {
this.pw = pw;
}
public void performQuery(ObjectBinaryTree t) {
Scanner userInput = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.println("Search for word: ");
pw.println("Search for word: ");
Word word = new Word(pw);
String input = userInput.next();
do {
word = new Word(input);
if (t.searchBST(word) != null) {
ObjectTreeNode p = t.searchBST(word);
ObjectListNode q = ((Word) p.getInfo()).getList().getFirstNode();
System.out.printf("%-15s%-5s", ((Word) p.getInfo()).getWord(), ((Word) p.getInfo()).getCount());
pw.printf("%-15s%-5s", ((Word) p.getInfo()).getWord(), ((Word) p.getInfo()).getCount());
while (q != null) {
System.out.print(((LinePosition) q.getInfo()).getLineNumber() + "-" + ((LinePosition) q.getInfo()).getPosition() + " ");
q = q.getNext();
}
System.out.println("\nType 1 to exit, or press enter for new search: ");
pw.println("\nType 1 to exit, or press enter for new search: ");
input = userInput.next();
continue;
}
else
System.out.print("Word Not Found");
System.out.println("\nType 1 to exit, or press enter for new search: ");
pw.print("Word Not Found");
pw.println("\nType 1 to exit, or press enter for new search: ");
input = userInput.next();
continue;
} while (!input.equals("1"));
}
}
and:
public class Driver {
public static void main(String[] args) throws FileNotFoundException {
PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(new File("csis.txt"));
Word word = new Word(pw);
Xref xref = new Xref(pw);
Query query = new Query(pw);
xref.readWords();
System.out.println();
pw.println();
query.performQuery(xref.getBinaryTree());
pw.close();
}
}
EDIT:
The visit() method is part of this interface (not sure if this helps but...):
public interface TreeComparable {
int compareTo(Object o);
void operate(Object o);
void visit();
}

The problem is here:
String input = userInput.next();
do {
word = new Word(input);
You should be getting a compile-time error about that, but evidently Word has a constructor that takes a String rather than a PrintWriter, and that constructor isn't setting pw correctly. This assignment is throwing away the (correct) instantiation above:
Word word = new Word(pw);
It looks like you might be misunderstanding what is and isn't a static member of an object. All of the Word objects you instantiate with a PrintWriter carry around a non-null value for pw, but the rest have null unless you fix it. My guess is that your Word(String) constructor ignores pw and expects it to be set by some other call -- it won't.

BabyNames how to return only one line

I have an assignment where the user is asked for baby name using a scanner. Then it reads through files names.txt and meanings.txt and returns the popularity of the name for each decade ranging from 1890 - 2010 then it prints out the meaning. Some names have multiple meanings and some are used in both genders. The assignment states to print only the first line where the name is found. I am having trouble only returning the first line in which the name is found. PLEASE HELP ME!
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
public class BabyNames4 {
public static void main(String[] args) throws FileNotFoundException {
printIntro();
Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.print("Name: ");
String searchWord = console.next();
Scanner fileScan = new Scanner(new File("names.txt"));
String dataLine = find(searchWord, fileScan);
if (dataLine.length() > 0) {
while (dataLine.length() > 0) {
printName(dataLine);
dataLine = find(searchWord, fileScan);
}
}
Scanner fileScan2 = new Scanner(new File("meanings.txt"));
String dataLine2 = find(searchWord, fileScan2);
if (dataLine2.length() > 0) {
while (dataLine2.length() > 0) {
printMeaning(dataLine2);
dataLine2 = find(searchWord, fileScan2);
}
}
}
public static void printIntro() {
System.out.println("This program allows you to search through the");
System.out.println("dada from the Social Security Administration");
System.out.println("to see how popular a particular name has been");
System.out.println("since 1890");
System.out.println();
}
public static String find(String searchWord, Scanner fileScan) {
while (fileScan.hasNextLine()) {
String dataLine = fileScan.nextLine();
String dataLineLC = dataLine.toLowerCase();
if (dataLineLC.contains(searchWord.toLowerCase())) {
return dataLine;
//} else { runs a continuous loop
//System.out.println(search" not found.");
}
}
return "";
}
public static void printName(String dataLine) {
Scanner lineScan = new Scanner(dataLine);
String name = lineScan.next();
String gender = lineScan.next();
String rank = "";
while (lineScan.hasNext()) {
rank += lineScan.next() + " ";
}
System.out.println(name + (" ") + gender + (" ") + rank);
}
public static void printMeaning(String dataLine2) {
Scanner lineScan2 = new Scanner(dataLine2);
String name2 = lineScan2.next();
String gender2 = lineScan2.next();
String language = lineScan2.next();
String meaning = "";
while (lineScan2.hasNext()) {
meaning += lineScan2.next() + " ";
}
System.out.println(name2 + (" ") + gender2 + (" ") + language + (" ") + meaning);
}
}

It looks like sushain hit it with his comment.
The loop:
while (dataLine2.length() > 0) {
printMeaning(dataLine2);
dataLine2 = find(searchWord, fileScan2);
}
could be changed to:
while (dataLine2.length() > 0) {
printMeaning(dataLine2);
break;
}
This way you do not find the second definition and do not print it.

In this loop, you don't need to find the next line, correct?
if (dataLine.length() > 0) {
while (dataLine.length() > 0) {
printName(dataLine);
dataLine = find(searchWord, fileScan); // remove this line
}
}
If you remove the next find to dataLine and remove the while blocks in both instances where you search the file, you won't need a break, and you'll only end up printing one instance.
Do this:
String dataLine = find(searchWord, fileScan);
if (dataLine.length() > 0) {
printName(dataLine);
}