CS1701T: Computer Programming in Java

1st Semester 2025

Lecture 3
Basic Input/Output

Source: Dr. [Link] Gaddah

Modified by Dr. Malak AlJabri and Dr. Areej Althobiti 1
Scanner Class

• Scanner is a class that provides methods for inputting words,

numbers, and other data.

• Scanner is provided by [Link], which is a package that contains

various “utility classes”.

• Before we could use Scanner , we have to import it (just

before public class ClassName) like this:
import [Link];

This statement tells the compiler which Scanner class we are referring
to because there might be another class named Scanner

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Scanner Class
• To initialize the Scanner class, we have to declare/define a Scanner
variable/object named keyboard and creates a Scanner that reads
input from [Link]:

• Syntax:
Scanner keyboard= new Scanner ([Link]);

Note:
• The new operator return a reference(memory location/address) to
the variable keyboard in the memory
• you may name the Scanner variable any name you wish such as: in,
src, source, etc

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Some Scanner Class Methods

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Some Scanner Class Methods

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Keyboard Input Demonstration

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Keyboard Input Demonstration

Sample
screen
output

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 nextLine()Method Caution
• The nextLine() method reads
• The remainder of the current line,
• Even if it is empty.

• Example
int n;
String s1, s2;
Scanner keyboard = new Scanner ([Link]);

n = [Link]();
s1 = [Link]();
s2 = [Link]();

[Link] ("n: " + n);

[Link] ("s1: " + s1);
[Link] ("s2: " + s2);

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 nextLine()Method Caution
• Why when we read a String followed by an int, everything works just fine.
But when we read an int followed by a String, something strange happens?

• Scanner doesn’t see input as multiple lines as we do; but as a stream of

characters!
42 \n a n d d o n ' t y o u \n

• nextInt returns the value 42. The program then waits for the user to enter
s1 and runs nextLine, which reads characters until it gets to a newline.

• But since the next character is already a newline, nextLine returns the
empty string "".

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 nextLine()Method Caution
• How can we solve this problem?
• We need an extra nextLine after nextInt :
int n;
String s1, s2;
Scanner keyboard = new Scanner ([Link]);

n = [Link]();
[Link](); //// read the newline
s1 = [Link]();
s2 = [Link]();

[Link] ("n: " + n);

[Link] ("s1: " + s1);
[Link] ("s2: " + s2);

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Keyboard Input Demonstration

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Keyboard Input Demonstration

Sample
Screen
Output

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Screen Output
• We've seen several examples of screen output already.
• Example:
[Link]("Enter a whole number from 1
to 99.");

[Link](quarters + "quarters");

• Where:
• System is a standard class
• out is an object that is part of Java.
• println() is one of the methods available to the

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Screen Output

• Syntax to use println

[Link] (Output_1 + Output_2 + … +
Output_Last);

• The concatenation operator (+) is useful when everything does

not fit on one line.
[Link]("Lucky number = " + 13
+"Secret number = " + number);
the output will be
Lucky number = 13Secret number = 7 Note, for readability, you
should break the line
before or
after a + operator, and you
should indent
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the continuation line.
Screen Output

• You can also use the println method to display the value of a
String variable

• Example:
String greeting = "Hello Programmers!";
[Link](greeting);

This will cause the following to be written on the screen:

Hello Programmers!

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Screen Output
• Every invocation of println ends a line of output i.e. it
inserts a new line!

• Alternatively, use print()

[Link]("One, two,");
[Link](" buckle my shoe.");
[Link](" Three, four,");
[Link](" shut the door.");

produces the following output:

One, two, buckle my shoe. Three, four,
shut the door.

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Escape Characters

• How would you print "Java" refers to a

language.?

• The compiler needs to be told that the quotation marks (")

do not signal the start or end of a string, but instead are to
be printed.

• We use \ before an escape character

[Link]("\"Java\" refers to a language.");

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Escape Characters

• Each escape sequence is a single character even though it is

written with two symbols.

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Printing Escape Characters Examples

[Link]("abc\\def"); abc\def

new
[Link]("new\nline");
line

char singleQuote = '\'';

'
[Link]
(singleQuote);

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Formatted Output with printf ( )
• printf works like the print method except it allows you to add formatting
instructions that specify things such as the number of digits to include after a
decimal point.
format
• Syntax,
[Link](%[specifier>][Flag][width][.precision]specifier,argument);
The format can include:
• specifier: These are marked with % followed by a character that indicates the type of
argument.
• For example, %d for integers, %f for floating-point numbers, %s for strings, etc.
• Flags: These are optional characters that modify the formatting, like - for left-justification, +
for always showing a sign, 0 for padding with zeros, etc.
• Width: An optional integer specifying the minimum field width.
• Precision: An optional integer specifying the number of digits after the decimal point for
floating-point numbers.

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Common Format Specifiers

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printf ( ) vs print()
• printf works like the print method except it allows you to add
formatting instructions that specify things such as the number of
digits to include after a decimal point.
• Example,
double price = 19.5;
[Link]("Price using println:" + price);
[Link]("Price using printf formatting:%6.2f", price);

The format specifier %6.2f

This code outputs the following lines: says to output a floating-point
Price using println:19.5 number in a field (number of
Price using printf formatting: 19.50 spaces) of width six (room for
six characters) and to
show exactly two digits after
the decimal point. So, 19.5 is
expressed as "19.50" in
a field of width six.
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flags

• Flags modify the overall appearance of the output. Here are some
common flags:

double price = 19.99;

[Link]("%+10.2f \n", price); // Output: +19.99
[Link]("%010.2f \n", price); // Output: 0000019.99
[Link]("%-10.2f \n", price); // Output: 19.99

+: Forces the display of a sign (+ or -) for numeric values.

0: Pads the output with zeros instead of spaces to fill the specified field
width.
-: Left-justifies the output within the specified field width.
Makes the output left-justified by adding any padding spaces to the right instead of to the
left.

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width

• The width specifies the minimum number of characters to be printed.

• If the actual value is shorter, it will be padded with spaces or zeros
(depending on the flags) to reach the specified width.
• Example

int number = 123;

[Link]("%10d\n", number); // Output:_____123
[Link]("%-10d\n", number); // Output: 123_____

• %10d: This formats the number with a minimum width of 10 characters, right-justified.
• %-10d: This formats the number with a minimum width of 10 characters, left-justified.

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Examples

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Examples

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Common Format Specifiers Example
double price = 19.5;
int quantity = 2;
String item = "Widgets";

[Link]("%10s sold:%4d at $%5.2f. Total =

$%1.2f", item, quantity, price, quantity * price);

the output is:

Widgets sold: 2 at $19.50. Total = $39.00

• %10s: A string (item) is formatted with a minimum width of 10 characters, left-justified.

• sold:%4d: The string "sold:" is printed, followed by an integer (quantity) formatted with a
minimum width of 4 characters.
• at $%5.2f: The string "at $" is printed, followed by a floating-point number (price)
formatted with a minimum width of 5 characters and 2 decimal places.
• . Total = $%1.2f: The string ". Total = $" is printed, followed by a floating-point number
(quantity * price) formatted with a minimum width of 1 character and 2 decimal places.

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Show the exact output produced by the following
println methods:

int counter = 5;
[Link]("counter = " + counter++);

counter = 5
[Link]("counter = " + counter%2);

counter = 0

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