I have the following code which I'm using to get the user to input an integer, check to make sure the input is valid, and if not, ask for input again. When the code is run, everything works fine until some invalid input is given, at which point the code loops without pausing to ask for input again until a stack overflow occurs, and I have no idea why. The code:
//Create the scanner object
private static Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
//Function to get input in integer form, complete with exception handling
//A value of -1 means the user is done inputing
public static int getInt()
{
int num;
//Begin try block
try
{
//Get the user to input an integer
num = in.nextInt();
//Make sure the integer is positive. Throw an exception otherwise
if (num < -1)
throw new InputMismatchException();
}
//If an exception occurred during the inputting process, recursively call this function
catch (InputMismatchException e)
{
System.out.println("Error: Input must be a positive integer, or -1.");
System.out.print("Enter a score: ");
num = getInt();
}
//Return the inputed number
return num;
}
When a scanner throws an InputMismatchException, the scanner will not
pass the token that caused the exception, so that it may be retrieved
or skipped via some other method
So sayeth the javadoc, i.e. the string that is not a number is not removed from the input automatically. Call in.next() manually to discard it.
You should call next(); to skip the invalid input before calling nextInt(); once more.
Is it necessary for the function to be recursive? Seems like this should be easy enough to do with a simple loop.
getInt() -> if (num<-1) throw Exception() -> catch (exception) -> num = getInt()
how do you expect NOT to loop ?
Related
I want to take an integer input from the user. I am using a try-catch exception so that if the input is not an int it asks the user for another input. I have written the following code:
while (flag==true) {
try {
System.out.println("Enter the encryption key!");
k = input.nextInt();
flag = false;
}
catch (InputMismatchException ex) {
System.out.println("Please enter integer value!(");
}
}
But when an exception occurs the loop keeps on printing
"Enter the encryption key!"
"Please enter integer value!"
infinitely because the scanner input does not wait to take another input.
How can I tackle with this problem?
You could try to use
input.nextLine()
because then it waits until you press enter. But then you need to parse it to an int if i remember correctly.
You should call next inside the catch clause, this will solve the problem.
See the docs - Scanner:
When a scanner throws an InputMismatchException, the scanner will not
pass the token that caused the exception, so that it may be retrieved
or skipped via some other method.
Without having next in the catch clause, input.nextInt(); will keep reading the same token, adding next will consume that token.
You should go with suggestion of Maroun Maroun that looks more clean to me.
One other way is to re-initialize the Scanner in loop.
boolean flag = false;
while (!flag) {
try {
input = new Scanner(System.in);//Initialize it here
//....
New programmer here. This is probably a really basic question, but it's stumping me nevertheless.
What I'm trying to do is write a method that supplies only one integer input so I can use that input in my main program without having to mess around with non-integer inputs. However, even writing the method to do that in its own method seems to be problematic.
public static int goodInput () {
Scanner input = new Scanner (System.in); //construct scanner
boolean test = input.hasNextInt(); //set a sentinel value
while (test == false) { //enter a loop until I actually get an integer
System.out.println("Integers only please"); //tell user to give me an integer
test = input.hasNextInt(); //get new input, see if it's an integer
}
int finalInput = input.nextInt(); //once i have an integer, set it to a variable
input.close(); //closing scanner
return finalInput; //return my integer so I don't have to mess around with hasNextInt over there
}
This seems to be broken in multiple levels, but I'm not really sure why.
If I enter an integer value like 0 or 1 when I'm first asked for input, it should skip the loop entirely. But, instead, it enters the loop, and prints "Integers only please". Even worse, it doesn't actually ask for input while I'm in there, and just prints that line repeatedly.
I understand the latter problem is probably due to token issues, but I'm not necessarily sure how to solve them; closing and then reopening the scanner gets Eclipse to bug me over "duplicate objects", simply assigning the old input to a garbage String variable that is never used tells me that "No line was found" at runtime, and I'm not experienced enough to think of other ways to get new input.
Even once that's solved, I need to find some way to avoid entering the loop in the case of having an integer. I don't really understand why integer inputs inter the loop to begin with, so I'm not sure how this would be possible.
Please help? Sorry if this is an old question; tried looking at past questions but none of them seem to have the same problem that I have.
You were close: this works fine for me:
Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in); //construct scanner
while(!input.hasNextInt()) {
input.next(); // next input is not an int, so consume it and move on
}
int finalInput = input.nextInt();
input.close(); //closing scanner
System.out.println("finalInput: " + finalInput);
By calling input.next() in your while loop, you consume the non-integer content and try again, and again, until the next input is an int.
//while (test == false) { // Line #1
while (!test) { /* Better notation */ // Line #2
System.out.println("Integers only please"); // Line #3
test = input.hasNextInt(); // Line #4
} // Line #5
The problem is that in line #4 above, input.hasNextInt() only tests if an integer is inputted, and does not ask for a new integer. If the user inputs something other than an integer, hasNextInt() returns false and you cannot ask for nextInt(), because then an InputMismatchException is thrown, since the Scanner is still expecting an integer.
You must use next() instead of nextInt():
while (!input.hasNextInt()) {
input.next();
// That will 'consume' the result, but doesn't use it.
}
int result = input.nextInt();
input.close();
return result;
I want to accept user input as either an integer or a string in Java but I always get an error no matter what I do.
My code is very simple (I'm a beginner):
System.out.println(
"Enter the row number (or enter e to quit the application):"
);
Scanner rowInput = new Scanner(System.in);
int row1 = rowInput.nextInt();
I want the user also to be able to press "e" to exit.
I have tried several things:
1) To convert row1 to a String and and say:
if((String)(row1).equals("e"){
System.out.println("You have quit") }
2) To convert "e" to an integer and say:
if(row1 == Integer.ParseInt("e"){
System.out.println("You have quit") }
3) To do the switch statement but it said I had incompatible types (String and an int).
My errors usually say: Exception in thread "main" java.util.InputMismatchException
Is there somebody who could help me?
Many thanks in advance!
You can try something like this
Scanner rowInput = new Scanner(System.in);
String inputStr = rowInput.nextLine();
try{
int row1 = Integer.parseInt(inputStr);
} catch (NumberFormatException e) //If exception occurred it means user has entered 'e'
{
if ("e".equals(inputStr)){
System.out.println("quiting application");
}
}
you should read the input from your scanner as String type and the try to convert that String input into integer using Integer.parseInt().
If its successful in parsing, it means user has input an Integer.
And If it fails, it will throw an exception NumberFormatException which will tell you that its not an Integer. So you can go ahead and check it for e if it is, do whatever you want as per your requirement.
You can't use nextInt() if you aren't sure that you will have a number coming in. Also, you can't parse e as an integer, because it is not an integer, it's either char or string (I'll suggest string in this case).
That means, your code should look like:
System.out.println("Enter the row number (or enter e to quit the application):");
Scanner rowInput = new Scanner(System.in);
string row1 = rowInput.next();
Then you have the data in a string. You can simply check if the string is e:
if (row1.Equals("e")) ...
It is also a good idea to check if the input is actually an integer then. Good way to check it is described here:
How to check if a String is numeric in Java
1) you should say Integer.parseInt() instead of Integer.ParseInt()
2) if you pass "e" to Integer.parseInt() you'll get java.lang.NumberFormatException
3) get your input as a string this way (cause it's safer)*:
Scanner rowInput = new Scanner(System.in);
String row = rowInput.next();
if (row.equals("e")) {
//do whatever
}
else if(row.matches("\\d+$")) {
//do whatever
}
*In your approach if user enters a non-integer input you'll encounter java.util.InputMismatchException
I have tried several things ....
Attempting to solve this problem by "trying things" is the wrong approach.
The correct approach is to understand what is going on, and then modify your solution to take this into account.
The problem you have is that you have a line of input that could be either a number or the special value e which means quit. (And in fact, it could be a couple of other things too ... but I will come to that.)
When you attempt to either:
call Scanner.nextInt() when the next input is not an integer, OR
call Integer.parseInt(...) on a String that is not an integer
you will get an exception. So what do you do?
One way is to change what you are doing so that you don't make those calls in those situations. For example:
call Scanner.hasInt() to see if the next token is an integer before calling nextInt(), or
test for the "e" case before you attempt to convert the String to an integer.
Another way to deal with this is to catch the exception. For example, you could do something like this:
String s = ...
try {
number = Integer.parseInt(s);
} catch (NumberFormatException ex) {
if (s.equals("e")) {
...
}
}
Either way will work, but I'm going to leave you to work out the details.
But the real point I'm trying to make is that the right way to solve this is to understand what is happening in your original version / versions, and based on your understanding, modify what you were doing. If you just randomly "try" alternatives that you found with Google, you won't progress to the point of being a productive programmer.
I said there were other cases. They are:
The user types something that is neither a number of your special e character. It could be anything. An empty line, hi mum ...
The user types the "end of file" character; e.g. CTRL-D on Linux or CTRL-Z on windows.
If you want your program to be robust you need to deal with these cases too.
Try this:
public class Demo{
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner s=new Scanner(System.in);
String choice = null;
System.out.println("Enter e to exit or some other key to stay:");
choice=s.next();
if(choice.equals("e"))
{
System.out.println("quits");
System.exit(0);
}
else
{
System.out.println("stays");
}
}
}
You can't convert a string into integer, use char ASCII codes instead.
I have a method that a wrote. This method just scans for a user entered integer input. If the user enters a character value it will throw an input mismatch exception, which is handled in my Try-Catch statement. The problem is that, if the user inputs anything that is not a number, and then an exception is thrown, I need the method to loop back around to ask the user for input again. To my understanding, a Try catch statement automatically loops back to the Try block if an error is caught. Is this not correct? Please advise.
Here is my method (it's pretty simple):
public static int getMask() {
//Prompt user to enter integer mask
Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
int output = 0;
try{
System.out.print("Enter the encryption mask: ");
output = keyboard.nextInt();
}
catch(Exception e){
System.out.println("Please enter a number, mask must be numeric");
}
return output;
}//end of getMask method
Here is how the method is implemented into my program:
//get integer mask from user input
int mask = getMask();
System.out.println("TEMP mask Value is: " + mask);
/***********************************/
Here is my updated code. It creates an infinate loop that I can't escape. I don't understand why I am struggling with this so much. Please help.
public static int getMask() {
//Prompt user to enter integer mask
Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
int output = 0;
boolean validInput = true;
do{
try {
System.out.print("Enter the encryption mask: ");
output = keyboard.nextInt();
validInput = true;
}
catch(InputMismatchException e){
System.out.println("Please enter a number, mask must be numeric");
validInput = false;
}
}while(!(validInput));
return output;
/********************/FINAL_ANSWER
I was able to get it finally. I think I just need to study boolean logic more. Sometimes it makes my head spin. Implementing the loop with an integer test worked fine. My own user error I suppose. Here is my final code working correctly with better exception handling. Let me know in the comments if you have any criticisms.
//get integer mask from user input
int repeat = 1;
int mask = 0;
do{
try{
mask = getMask();
repeat = 1;
}
catch(InputMismatchException e){
repeat = 0;
}
}while(repeat==0);
To my understanding, a Try catch statement automatically loops back to the Try block if an error is caught. Is this not correct?
No this is not correct, and I'm curious as to how you arrived at that understanding.
You have a few options. For example (this will not work as-is but let's talk about error handling first, then read below):
// Code for illustrative purposes but see comments on nextInt() below; this
// is not a working example as-is.
int output = 0;
while (true) {
try{
System.out.print("Enter the encryption mask: ");
output = keyboard.nextInt();
break;
}
catch(Exception e){
System.out.println("Please enter a number, mask must be numeric");
}
}
Among others; your choice of option usually depends on your preferred tastes (e.g. fge's answer is the same idea but slightly different), but in most cases is a direct reflection of what you are trying to do: "Keep asking until the user enters a valid number."
Note also, like fge mentioned, you should generally catch the tightest exception possible that you are prepared to handle. nextInt() throws a few different exceptions but your interest is specifically in an InputMismatchException. You are not prepared to handle, e.g., an IllegalStateException -- not to mention that it will make debugging/testing difficult if unexpected exceptions are thrown but your program pretends they are simply related to invalid input (and thus never notifies you that a different problem occurred).
Now, that said, Scanner.nextInt() has another issue here, where the token is left on the stream if it cannot be parsed as an integer. This will leave you stuck in a loop if you don't take that token off the stream. To that end you actually want to use either next() or nextLine(), so that the token is always consumed no matter what; then you can parse with Integer.parseInt(), e.g.:
int output = 0;
while (true) {
try{
System.out.print("Enter the encryption mask: ");
String response = keyboard.next(); // or nextLine(), depending on requirements
output = Integer.parseInt(response);
break;
}
catch(NumberFormatException e){ // <- note specific exception type
System.out.println("Please enter a number, mask must be numeric");
}
}
Note that this still directly reflects what you want to do: "Keep asking until the user enters a valid number, but consume the input no matter what they enter."
To my understanding, a Try catch statement automatically loops back to the Try block if an error is caught. Is this not correct?
It is indeed not correct. A try block will be executed only once.
You can use this to "work around" it (although JasonC's answer is more solid -- go with that):
boolean validInput = false;
while (!validInput) {
try {
System.out.print("Enter the encryption mask: ");
output = keyboard.nextInt();
validInput = true;
}
catch(Exception e) {
keyboard.nextLine(); // swallow token!
System.out.println("Please enter a number, mask must be numeric");
}
}
return output;
Further note: you should NOT be catching Exception but a more specific exception class.
As stated in the comments, try-catch -blocks don't loop. Use a for or while if you want looping.
This question already has answers here:
How to handle infinite loop caused by invalid input (InputMismatchException) using Scanner
(5 answers)
Closed 5 years ago.
Help, I am completely new to java and I am trying to create a loop that will ask for an input from the user which is to be a number. If the user enters anything other than a number I want to catch the exception and try again to get the correct input. I did this with a while loop however it does not give the opportunity after the error for the user to type in anything it loops everything else but that. Please help me to see understand what is wrong and the correct way to do this... Thank you. This is what I have:
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.InputMismatchException;
public class simpleExpressions {
public static void main (String[] args) {
Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
while ( true ) {
double numOne;
System.out.println("Enter an Expression ");
try {
numOne = keyboard.nextInt();
break;
} catch (Exception E) {
System.out.println("Please input a number only!");
} //end catch
} //end while
} //end main
while ( true )
{
double numOne;
System.out.println("Enter an Expression ");
try {
numOne = keyboard.nextInt();
break;
}
catch (Exception E) {
System.out.println("Please input a number only!");
}
This suffers from several problems:
numOne hasn't been initialized in advance, so it will not be definitely assigned after the try-catch, so you won't be able to refer to it;
if you plan to use numOne after the loop, then you must declare it outside the loop's scope;
(your immediate problem) after an exception you don't call scanner.next() therefore you never consume the invalid token which didn't parse into an int. This makes your code enter an infinite loop upon first encountering invalid input.
Use keyboard.next(); or keyboard.nextLine() in the catch clause to consume invalid token that was left from nextInt.
When InputMismatchException is thrown Scanner is not moving to next token. Instead it gives us opportunity to handle that token using different, more appropriate method like: nextLong(), nextDouble(), nextBoolean().
But if you want to move to other token you need to let scanner read it without problems. To do so use method which can accept any data, like next() or nextLine(). Without it invalid token will not be consumed and in another iteration nextInt() will again try to handle same data throwing again InputMismatchException, causing the infinite loop.
See #MarkoTopolnik answer for details about other problems in your code.
You probably want to use a do...while loop in this case, because you always want to execute the code in the loop at least once.
int numOne;
boolean inputInvalid = true;
do {
System.out.println("Enter an expression.");
try {
numOne = keyboard.nextInt();
inputInvalid = false;
} catch (InputMismatchException ime) {
System.out.println("Please input a number only!");
keyboard.next(); // consume invalid token
}
} while(inputInvalid);
System.out.println("Number entered is " + numOne);
If an exception is thrown then the value of inputInvalid remains true and the loop keeps going around. If an exception is not thrown then inputInvalid becomes false and execution is allowed to leave the loop.
(Added a call to the Scanner next() method to consume the invalid token, based on the advice provided by other answers here.)