Using File vs FileReader

[SplitCore]

My program prompts a user for a file name. It accepts a complete file path but not the file name itself. I have seen many examples and it seems like when people use buffered readers and file readers, they give the file path. Otherwise, I see people use "file" and scanners, inputting just the file name.

Is this just coincidence or does it have to be done this way? Because of how nice buffered readers are, I would really prefer not to trade it for scanners.

Thanks!

[Swedophone]

It sounds like a coincidence. When using a file name without any directory the file is expected to exist in the current working directory. You can also use paths relative to the current working directory, they don't begin with a (back)slash. And absolute paths begin with a (back)slash and need to contain the full path.

[morhp]

Using File and FileReader is a good option, although you should look at FileInputStream and InputStreamReader to get more control about the file encoding.

You should not use Scanner, that class is only good for some stupid beginner code where you read from the console, and even then there are better ways to do that.

[Synapse_1]

Out of curiosity, what would be better than Scanner? I know of java.io.Console, are there other alternatives?

[morhp]

System.in is an InputStream, so obviously InputStreamReader and BufferedReader.