Scanner or BufferedReader: Which Java Class Should I Use for File Reading?

Choosing Between Scanner and BufferedReader for File Reading in Java

Introduction

When working with character-based data from files in Java, developers often consider two methods: Scanner and BufferedReader. Both approaches have their strengths and use cases, but they differ in their functionality and performance.

Scanner vs. BufferedReader

• Scanner: Provides a higher-level interface for reading text data, allowing developers to easily parse tokens and extract specific values.
• BufferedReader: Offers a lower-level approach, primarily focused on reading streams of characters efficiently.

Performance Comparison

Scanner does not perform as efficiently as BufferedReader due to its added functionality for token parsing. BufferedReader, on the other hand, uses a buffer to avoid excessive physical disk operations, resulting in improved reading speed.

Choosing Between Scanner and BufferedReader

The choice between Scanner and BufferedReader depends on the specific requirements of the task:

• Scanner: Preferable for applications that need to parse text data and extract specific values (e.g., numbers, words). Its ease of use and token parsing capabilities may outweigh performance considerations.
• BufferedReader: Ideal for applications that require efficient reading of character streams without the need for tokenization (e.g., transferring file contents, streaming data). Its faster reading speed is advantageous in such scenarios.

Relationship between Scanner and BufferedReader

Notably, you can pass a BufferedReader to a Scanner as the source of characters to parse. This allows you to combine the efficiency of BufferedReader with the parsing capabilities of Scanner in specific situations.

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