How to make java delay for a few seconds?

Question

Hey all I have this code. I want to delay my program for a few seconds and display "scanning..."

Here's what I have. This compiles but doesn't delay anything

 if (i==1){

        try {
            Thread.sleep(1);
        } catch (InterruptedException ie)
        {
            System.out.println("Scanning...");
        }

    }

thanks in advance I have int i = 1 before obviously

Answer 1

If you want to pause then use java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit:

TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(1);

To sleep for one second or for 10 minutes

TimeUnit.MINUTES.sleep(10);

Or Thread Sleep

try        
{
    Thread.sleep(1000);
} 
catch(InterruptedException ex) 
{
    Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
}

see also the official documentation

TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep() will call Thread.sleep. The only difference is readability and using TimeUnit is probably easier to understand for non obvious durations.

but if you want to solve your issue

        int timeToWait = 10; //second
        System.out.print("Scanning")
        try {
            for (int i=0; i<timeToWait ; i++) {
                Thread.sleep(1000);
                System.out.print(".")
            }
        } catch (InterruptedException ie)
        {
            Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
        }

Answer 2

Thread.sleep() takes in the number of milliseconds to sleep, not seconds.

Sleeping for one millisecond is not noticeable. Try Thread.sleep(1000) to sleep for one second.