The nextChar() is a popularly used inbuilt function in the programming world that reads the characters. However, in Java, there is no built-in “nextChar()” method. Alternatively, Java offers a couple of methods that serve the same functionality, such as the “next()” and “charAt()”. The “next()” function accepts an unspecified data type as an argument, which may consist of an infinite number of characters. While if you use “charAt” and pass “0” as the index, then only a single character will be accepted as input.
This post will demonstrate the alternative of nextChar in the scanner class in Java.
Is There nextChar() in Java’s Scanner Class?
No! Java does not provide the “nextChar()” method in the Scanner class. However, Java offers various alternatives that can be used instead of “nextChar()”. For instance, users can invoke the “next().charAt()” to read the characters. The “next()” method returns the input word as a string, and “charAt()” is used to return the first character of that string.
Example 1: Use of next().charAt() Method
To invoke the “next().charAt()” method, first of all, import the Scanner class library:
Invoke the “try” statement, declare the object, and initialize with the predefined scanner input object. Then, use the “print()” method and pass the string as the argument to display it on the console. After that, utilize the “next().charAt()” method which takes the input from the user to execute the code and stores it in the declared character variable:
System.out.print("Enter a character: ");
char x = input.next().charAt(0);
System.out.println("Variable has the following data: " + x);
}
The following snippet demonstrates that the “next().charAt()” method has successfully read the input character:
That’s all about Java’s nextChar() equivalent.
Conclusion
There exists no “nextChar()” method in Java’s Scanner class. However, Java provides various alternatives that can be used instead of “nextChar()”. The best-suited Java equivalent of the “nextChar()” method is the “next().charAt()”. The “next()” method retrieves the input value as a string and “char()” retrieves the first character of that particular string. This post has stated the alternative method for nextChar() in the Scanner class of Java.
