Java User Input

The Scanner class is used to get user input, and it is found in the java.util package.

To use the Scanner class:

1. Import the Scanner class at the top of the file.
2. Create a Scanner object.
3. Use a method from the Scanner class.

To import the Scanner class, add at the top of the file:

import java.util.Scanner;

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In our example, we will use the .nextLine() method, which is used to read Strings:

import java.util.Scanner;                         // 1. Import the Scanner class

class Main {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Scanner myObj = new Scanner(System.in);       // 2. Create a Scanner object

    System.out.println("Enter your user name");

    String userName = myObj.nextLine();           // 3. Read the user input with .nextLine()

    System.out.println("The username is: " + userName);
  }
}

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Here, the user can enter some text in the terminal, press enter, and that string will get stored in the variable userName.

Input Types

In the example above, we used the .nextLine() method, which is used to read Strings. To read other types, look at the table below: