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Java delete lines in a file? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Find a line in a file and remove it
(17 answers)
Removing Nth line of File with BufferedReader/BufferedWriter
(1 answer)
Closed 2 years ago.
I have a text file that will have repeated lines of the following information (without bullet points):
Code: 12345
john.doe#gmail.com
10935710517038750
In each "set", the numbers would be different as well as the email address. This is just an example.
What I want to do is scan through the text file, fine the line with the specific code I am searching for, then delete that code, email, and number line. Like, the line with the code in it as well as the next two lines.
I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to do this. I learned how to replace these lines with something else, but I would like to erase them completely, preferably without having to make a brand new text file every single time, unless there is a way to make the new text file with the deleted lines, and replace the old file with this new one.
Here is the relevant code I have, in segments. The code replaces all lines matching the oldLine variable with an empty line. That isn't what I want, but I can't figure it out otherwise. I had gotten most of this code from an example elsewhere.
//Instantiating the File class
String filePath = "C:\\\\Users\\\\taylo\\\\Astronomy\\\\Which Bright Stars Are Visible\\\\StoreVerificationCodes.txt";
//Instantiating the Scanner class to read the file
Scanner sc = new Scanner(new File(filePath));
//instantiating the StringBuffer class
StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
//Reading lines of the file and appending them to StringBuffer
while (sc.hasNextLine()) {
buffer.append(sc.nextLine()+System.lineSeparator());
}
String fileContents = buffer.toString();
System.out.println("Contents of the file: "+fileContents);
//closing the Scanner object
sc.close();
String oldLine = "Code: 12345";
String newLine = "";
//Replacing the old line with new line
fileContents = fileContents.replaceAll(oldLine, newLine);
//instantiating the FileWriter class
FileWriter writer = new FileWriter(filePath);
System.out.println("");
System.out.println("new data: "+fileContents);
writer.append(fileContents);
writer.flush();
writer.close();

Well, I think, what you are looking for is substring method. I believe there would be some reason why you have this requirement where you just have the code and you have to delete the next two lines of that set also. Please have a look at below code. It should work, given that the structure of your file is fixed and not going to change.
String filePath = "C:/Users/taylo/Astronomy/Which Bright Stars Are Visible/StoreVerificationCodes.txt";
//Instantiating the Scanner class to read the file
Scanner sc = new Scanner(new File(filePath));
//instantiating the StringBuffer class
StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
//Reading lines of the file and appending them to StringBuffer
while (sc.hasNextLine()) {
buffer.append(sc.nextLine()+System.lineSeparator());
}
String fileContents = buffer.toString();
System.out.println("Contents of the file: "+fileContents);
//closing the Scanner object
sc.close();
String oldLine = "Code: 789678";
String newLine = "";
// My changes starts here.............
String codePattern = "Code:"; // A fixed pattern
int firstIndex = fileContents.indexOf(oldLine); // To get the index of code you looking for.
int nextIndex= fileContents.indexOf(codePattern, firstIndex+1);
if(nextIndex != -1) {
nextIndex = fileContents.indexOf(codePattern, firstIndex+1) -5;
fileContents = fileContents.substring(0, firstIndex) + fileContents.substring(nextIndex+3);
}
else
fileContents = fileContents.substring(0, firstIndex);
// My changes done here.............
//fileContents = fileContents.replaceAll(oldLine, newLine); //No need
FileWriter writer = new FileWriter(filePath);
System.out.println("");
System.out.println("new data: "+fileContents);
writer.append(fileContents);
writer.flush();
writer.close();

How can I remove specific elements from a linkedlist in java based on user input?

I'm very new (6 weeks into java) trying to remove elements from a csv file that lists a set of students as such (id, name, grades) each on a new line.
Each student id is numbered in ascending value. I want to try and remove a student by entering the id number and I'm not sure how I can do this.
So far I've just tried to reduce the value that user inputs to match the index as students are listed by number and I did this in a while loop. However, each iteration doesn't recognize the reduction from the previous user Input, and I think I need a way that can just search the value of the id, and remove the entire line from the csv file.
Have only tried to include the pertinent code. Reading previous stack questions has shown me a bunch of answers related to nodes, which make no sense to me since I don't have whatever prerequisite knowledge is required to understand it, and I'm not sure the rest of my code is valid for those methods.
Any ideas that are relatively simple?
Student.txt (each on a new line)
1,Frank,West,98,95,87,78,77,80
2,Dianne,Greene,78,94,88,87,95,92
3,Doug,Lei,78,94,88,87,95,92
etc....
Code:
public static boolean readFile(String filename) {
File file = new File("C:\\Users\\me\\eclipse-workspace\\studentdata.txt");
try {
Scanner scanner = new Scanner(file);
while(scanner.hasNextLine()) {
String[] words=scanner.nextLine().split(",");
int id = Integer.parseInt(words[0]);
String firstName = words[1];
String lastName = words[2];
int mathMark1 = Integer.parseInt(words[3]);
int mathMark2 = Integer.parseInt(words[4]);
int mathMark3 = Integer.parseInt(words[5]);
int englishMark1 = Integer.parseInt(words[6]);
int englishMark2 = Integer.parseInt(words[7]);
int englishMark3 = Integer.parseInt(words[8]);
addStudent(id,firstName,lastName,mathMark1,mathMark2,mathMark3,englishMark1,englishMark2,englishMark3);
}scanner.close();
}catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
System.out.println("Failed to readfile.");
private static void removeStudent() {
String answer = "Yes";
while(answer.equals("Yes") || answer.equals("yes")) {
System.out.println("Do you wish to delete a student?");
answer = scanner.next();
if (answer.equals("Yes") || answer.equals("yes")) {
System.out.println("Please enter the ID of the student to be removed.");
//tried various things here: taking userInput and passing through linkedlist.remove() but has never worked.

This solution may not be optimal or pretty, but it works. It reads in an input file line by line, writing each line out to a temporary output file. Whenever it encounters a line that matches what you are looking for, it skips writing that one out. It then renames the output file. I have omitted error handling, closing of readers/writers, etc. from the example. I also assume there is no leading or trailing whitespace in the line you are looking for. Change the code around trim() as needed so you can find a match.
File inputFile = new File("myFile.txt");
File tempFile = new File("myTempFile.txt");
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(inputFile));
BufferedWriter writer = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(tempFile));
String lineToRemove = "bbb";
String currentLine;
while((currentLine = reader.readLine()) != null) {
// trim newline when comparing with lineToRemove
String trimmedLine = currentLine.trim();
if(trimmedLine.equals(lineToRemove)) continue;
writer.write(currentLine + System.getProperty("line.separator"));
}
writer.close();
reader.close();
boolean successful = tempFile.renameTo(inputFile);

split method to output values under each other when reading from a file

My code works fine however it prints the values side by side instead of under each other line by line. Like this:
iatadult,DDD,
iatfirst,AAA,BBB,CCC
I have done a diligent search on stackoverflow and none of my solution's seem to work. I know that I have to make the change while the looping is going on. However none of the examples I have seen have worked. Any further understanding or techniques to achieve my goal would be helpful. Whatever I am missing is probably very small. Please help.
String folderPath1 = "C:\\PayrollSync\\client\\client_orginal.txt";
File file = new File (folderPath1);
ArrayList<String> fileContents = new ArrayList<>(); // holds all matching client names in array
try {
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));// reads entire file
String line;
while (( line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
if(line.contains("fooa")||line.contains("foob")){
fileContents.add(line);
}
//---------------------------------------
}
reader.close();// close reader
} catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println(e.getMessage());
}
System.out.println(fileContents);

Add a Line Feed before you add to fileContents.
fileContents.add(line+"\n");

By printing the list directly as you are doing you are invoking the method toString() overridden for the list which prints the contents like this:
obj1.toString(),obj2.toString() .. , objN.toString()
in your case the obj* are of type String and the toString() override for it returns the string itself. That's why you are seeing all the strings separated by comma.
To do something different, i.e: printing each object in a separate line you should implement it yourself, and you can simply append the new line character('\n') after each string.
Possible solution in java 8:
String result = fileContents.stream().collect(Collectors.joining('\n'));
System.out.println(result);

A platform-independent way to add a new line:
fileContents.add(line + System.lineSeparator);

Below is my full answer. Thanks for your help stackoverflow. It took me all day but I have a full solution.
File file = new File (folderPath1);
ArrayList<String> fileContents = new ArrayList<>(); // holds all matching client names in array
try {
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));// reads entire file
String line;
while (( line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
String [] names ={"iatdaily","iatrapala","iatfirst","wpolkrate","iatjohnson","iatvaleant"};
if (Stream.of(names).anyMatch(line.trim()::contains)) {
System.out.println(line);
fileContents.add(line + "\n");
}
}
System.out.println("---------------");
reader.close();// close reader
} catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println(e.getMessage());
}

read from file and write some parts in another file

I have to read from a text file and format the input. I'm new to java reading from files, and I don't know how to work with just some parts of what I read
Here is the initial file: http://pastebin.com/D0paWtAd
And I have to write in another file the following output:
Average,Joe,44,31,18,12,9,10
I've managed just to take everything from the file and print it to output. I would need help just in taking the output I need and print it to the screen. Any help is appreciated.
This is what I wrote up to now:
public class FileParsing {
public static String
read(String filename) throws IOException {
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("C:\\Users\\Bogdi\\Desktop\\example.txt"));
String s;
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
while((s = in.readLine())!= null) sb.append(s + "\n");
in.close();
return sb.toString();
}

If your goal is to do the specified output in another file you don't need to first get the content of your file in a StringBuilder before processing it, you can append the processed datas directly in a StringBuilder then you can write the result in a file. Here is an example that would work for the given file but you may have to modify it if the keys change in the future:
The following method will correctly process the datas from your file
public static String read(String filename) throws IOException {
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(filename));
String s;
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
while((s = in.readLine())!= null) {
String[] split1 = s.split("=");
if (split1[0].equals("name")) {
StringTokenizer tokenizer = new StringTokenizer(split1[1]);
sb.append(tokenizer.nextToken());
sb.append(",");
sb.append(tokenizer.nextToken());
sb.append(",");
} else if (split1[0].equals("index")) {
sb.append(split1[1] + ",");
} else if (split1[0].equals("FBid")) {
sb.append(split1[1]);
} else {
StringTokenizer tokenizer = new StringTokenizer(split1[1]);
String wasted = tokenizer.nextToken();
sb.append(tokenizer.nextToken() + ",");
}
}
in.close();
return sb.toString();
}
The next method will read any string to a file
public static void writeStringToFile(String string, String filePath) throws IOException {
BufferedWriter writer = new BufferedWriter(
new FileWriter(
new File(filePath)
)
);
writer.write(string);
writer.newLine();
writer.flush();
writer.close();
}
And here is a simple tests (File1.txt contains the datas from the file you shared on paste bin and I write them in another file)
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
String datas = read("C:\\Tests\\File1.txt");
System.out.println(datas);
writeStringToFile(datas, "C:\\Tests\\FileOuput.txt" );
}
It will produce the exact output that you are expecting
[EDIT] #idk, apparently you have an exception executing my example, while it is working fine for me. That could only mean there is an error at data level. Here is the data sample that I used (and I believe I exactly copy the datas you shared)
And here is the result:

Good to know you are using "StringBuilder" component instead being concatenating your String values, way to go :).
More than knowledge on the Java.IO API to work with files, you will need some logic to get the results you expect. Here I came with an approach that could help you, not perfect, but can point you on how to face this problem.
//Reference to your file
String myFilePath = "c:/dev/myFile.txt";
File myFile = new File(myFilePath);
//Create a buffered reader, which is a good start
BufferedReader breader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(myFile));
//Define this variable called line that will evaluate each line of our file
String line = null;
//I will use a StringBuilder to append the information I need
StringBuilder appender = new StringBuilder();
while ((line = breader.readLine()) != null) {
//First, I will obtain the characters after "equals" sign
String afterEquals = line.substring(line.indexOf("=") + 1, line.length());
//Then, if it contains digits...
if (afterEquals.matches(".*\\d+.*")) {
//I will just get the digits from the line
afterEquals = afterEquals.replaceAll("\\D+","");
}
//Finally, append the contents
appender.append(afterEquals);
appender.append(",");//This is the comma you want to include
}
//I will delete the last comma
appender.deleteCharAt(appender.length() - 1);
//Close the reader...
breader.close();
//Then create a process to write the content
BufferedWriter myWriter = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(new File("myResultFile.txt")));
//Write the full contents I get from my appender :)
myWriter.write(appender.toString());
//Close the writer
myWriter.close();
}
Hope this can help you. Happy coding!

Read multiline text with values separated by whitespaces

I have a following test file :
Jon Smith 1980-01-01
Matt Walker 1990-05-12
What is the best way to parse through each line of this file, creating object with (name, surname, birthdate) ? Of course this is just a sample, the real file has many records.

import java.io.*;
class Record
{
String first;
String last;
String date;
public Record(String first, String last, String date){
this.first = first;
this.last = last;
this.date = date;
}
public static void main(String args[]){
try{
FileInputStream fstream = new FileInputStream("textfile.txt");
DataInputStream in = new DataInputStream(fstream);
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(in));
String strLine;
while ((strLine = br.readLine()) != null) {
String[] tokens = strLine.split(" ");
Record record = new Record(tokens[0],tokens[1],tokens[2]);//process record , etc
}
in.close();
} catch (Exception e){
System.err.println("Error: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
}

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.util.Scanner;
public class ScannerReadFile {
public static void main(String[] args) {
//
// Create an instance of File for data.txt file.
//
File file = new File("tsetfile.txt");
try {
//
// Create a new Scanner object which will read the data from the
// file passed in. To check if there are more line to read from it
// we check by calling the scanner.hasNextLine() method. We then
// read line one by one till all line is read.
//
Scanner scanner = new Scanner(file);
while (scanner.hasNextLine()) {
String line = scanner.nextLine();
System.out.println(line);
}
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
This:
while (scanner.hasNextLine()) {
String line = scanner.nextLine();
Could also be changed to
while (scanner.hasNext()) {
String line = scanner.next();
Which will read whitespace.
You could do
Scanner scanner = new Scanner(file).useDelimiter(",");
To do a custom delimiter
At the time of the post, now you have three different ways to do this. Here you just need to parse the data you need. You could read the the line, then split or read one by one and everything 3 would a new line or a new person.

At first glance, I would suggest the StringTokenizer would be your friend here, but having some experience doing this for real, in business applications, what you probably cannot guarantee is that the Surname is a single name (i.e. someone with a double barrelled surname, not hyphenated would cause you problems.
If you can guarantee the integrity of the data then, you code would be
BufferedReader read = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("yourfile.txt"));
String line = null;
while( (line = read.readLine()) != null) {
StringTokenizer tokens = new StringTokenizer(line);
String firstname = tokens.nextToken();
...etc etc
}
If you cannot guarantee the integrity of your data, then you would need to find the first space, and choose all characters before that as the last name, find the last space and all characters after that as the DOB, and everything inbetween is the surname.

Use a FileReader for reading characters from a file, use a BufferedReader for buffering these characters so you can read them as lines. Then you have a choice.. Personally I'd use String.split() to split on the whitespace giving you a nice String Array, you could also tokenize this string.
Of course you'd have to think about what would happen if someone has a middle name and such.

Look at BufferedReader class. It has readLine method. Then you may want to split each line with space separators to construct get each individual field.