JavaTM 2 Platform
Std. Ed. v1.4.1

java.io
Class InputStreamReader

java.lang.Object
  |
  +--java.io.Reader
        |
        +--java.io.InputStreamReader
Direct Known Subclasses:
FileReader

public class InputStreamReader
extends Reader

An InputStreamReader is a bridge from byte streams to character streams: It reads bytes and decodes them into characters using a specified charset. The charset that it uses may be specified by name or may be given explicitly, or the platform's default charset may be accepted.

Each invocation of one of an InputStreamReader's read() methods may cause one or more bytes to be read from the underlying byte-input stream. To enable the efficient conversion of bytes to characters, more bytes may be read ahead from the underlying stream than are necessary to satisfy the current read operation.

For top efficiency, consider wrapping an InputStreamReader within a BufferedReader. For example:

 BufferedReader in
   = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
 

Since:
JDK1.1
See Also:
BufferedReader, InputStream, Charset

Field Summary
 
Fields inherited from class java.io.Reader
lock
 
Constructor Summary
InputStreamReader(InputStream in)
          Create an InputStreamReader that uses the default charset.
InputStreamReader(InputStream in, Charset cs)
          Create an InputStreamReader that uses the given charset.
InputStreamReader(InputStream in, CharsetDecoder dec)
          Create an InputStreamReader that uses the given charset decoder.
InputStreamReader(InputStream in, String charsetName)
          Create an InputStreamReader that uses the named charset.
 
Method Summary
 void close()
          Close the stream.
 String getEncoding()
          Return the name of the character encoding being used by this stream.
 int read()
          Read a single character.
 int read(char[] cbuf, int offset, int length)
          Read characters into a portion of an array.
 boolean ready()
          Tell whether this stream is ready to be read.
 
Methods inherited from class java.io.Reader
mark, markSupported, read, reset, skip
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait
 

Constructor Detail

InputStreamReader

public InputStreamReader(InputStream in)
Create an InputStreamReader that uses the default charset.

Parameters:
in - An InputStream

InputStreamReader

public InputStreamReader(InputStream in,
                         String charsetName)
                  throws UnsupportedEncodingException
Create an InputStreamReader that uses the named charset.

Parameters:
in - An InputStream
charsetName - The name of a supported charset
Throws:
UnsupportedEncodingException - If the named charset is not supported

InputStreamReader

public InputStreamReader(InputStream in,
                         Charset cs)
Create an InputStreamReader that uses the given charset.

Parameters:
in - An InputStream
cs - A charset
Since:
1.4

InputStreamReader

public InputStreamReader(InputStream in,
                         CharsetDecoder dec)
Create an InputStreamReader that uses the given charset decoder.

Parameters:
in - An InputStream
dec - A charset decoder
Since:
1.4
Method Detail

getEncoding

public String getEncoding()
Return the name of the character encoding being used by this stream.

If the encoding has an historical name then that name is returned; otherwise the encoding's canonical name is returned.

If this instance was created with the InputStreamReader(InputStream, String) constructor then the returned name, being unique for the encoding, may differ from the name passed to the constructor. This method may return null if the stream has been closed.

Returns:
The historical name of this encoding, or possibly null if the stream has been closed
See Also:
Charset

read

public int read()
         throws IOException
Read a single character.

Overrides:
read in class Reader
Returns:
The character read, or -1 if the end of the stream has been reached
Throws:
IOException - If an I/O error occurs

read

public int read(char[] cbuf,
                int offset,
                int length)
         throws IOException
Read characters into a portion of an array.

Specified by:
read in class Reader
Parameters:
cbuf - Destination buffer
offset - Offset at which to start storing characters
length - Maximum number of characters to read
Returns:
The number of characters read, or -1 if the end of the stream has been reached
Throws:
IOException - If an I/O error occurs

ready

public boolean ready()
              throws IOException
Tell whether this stream is ready to be read. An InputStreamReader is ready if its input buffer is not empty, or if bytes are available to be read from the underlying byte stream.

Overrides:
ready in class Reader
Returns:
True if the next read() is guaranteed not to block for input, false otherwise. Note that returning false does not guarantee that the next read will block.
Throws:
IOException - If an I/O error occurs

close

public void close()
           throws IOException
Close the stream.

Specified by:
close in class Reader
Throws:
IOException - If an I/O error occurs

JavaTM 2 Platform
Std. Ed. v1.4.1

Submit a bug or feature
For further API reference and developer documentation, see Java 2 SDK SE Developer Documentation. That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.

Copyright 2002 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Use is subject to license terms.