Java: How to get input from System.console()

Question

Using Console to read input (usable only outside of an IDE):

System.out.print("Enter something:");
String input = System.console().readLine();

Another way (works everywhere):

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;

public class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException { 
        BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
        System.out.print("Enter String");
        String s = br.readLine();
        System.out.print("Enter Integer:");
        try {
            int i = Integer.parseInt(br.readLine());
        } catch(NumberFormatException nfe) {
            System.err.println("Invalid Format!");
        }
    }
}

System.console() returns null in an IDE.
So if you really need to use System.console(), read this solution from McDowell.

Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);

int i = in.nextInt();
String s = in.next();

There are few ways to read input string from your console/keyboard. The following sample code shows how to read a string from the console/keyboard by using Java.

public class ConsoleReadingDemo {

public static void main(String[] args) {

    // ====
    BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
    System.out.print("Please enter user name : ");
    String username = null;
    try {
        username = reader.readLine();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    System.out.println("You entered : " + username);

    // ===== In Java 5, Java.util,Scanner is used for this purpose.
    Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
    System.out.print("Please enter user name : ");
    username = in.nextLine();      
    System.out.println("You entered : " + username);


    // ====== Java 6
    Console console = System.console();
    username = console.readLine("Please enter user name : ");   
    System.out.println("You entered : " + username);

}
}

The last part of code used java.io.Console class. you can not get Console instance from System.console() when running the demo code through Eclipse. Because eclipse runs your application as a background process and not as a top-level process with a system console.

It will depend on your environment. If you're running a Swing UI via javaw for example, then there isn't a console to display. If you're running within an IDE, it will very much depend on the specific IDE's handling of console IO.

From the command line, it should be fine though. Sample:

import java.io.Console;

public class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        Console console = System.console();
        if (console == null) {
            System.out.println("Unable to fetch console");
            return;
        }
        String line = console.readLine();
        console.printf("I saw this line: %s", line);
    }
}

Run this just with java:

> javac Test.java
> java Test
Foo  <---- entered by the user
I saw this line: Foo    <---- program output

Another option is to use System.in, which you may want to wrap in a BufferedReader to read lines, or use Scanner (again wrapping System.in).