In this tutorial we will discuss about the EOFException in Java. This exception indicates the the end of file (EOF), or the end of stream has been reached unexpectedly. Also, this exception is mainly used by DataInputStreams, in order to signal the end of stream. However, notice that other input operations may return a special value upon the end of a stream, instead of throwing an EOFException.
The EOFException class extends the IOException class, which is the general class of exceptions produced by failed, or interrupted I/O operations. Moreover, it implements the Serializable interface. Also, it is defined as a checked exception and thus, it must be declared in a method, or a constructor’s throws clause.
Finally, the EOFException exists since the 1.0 version of Java.
The Structure of EOFException
Constructors
EOFException()
Creates an instance of the EOFException class, setting null as its message.
EOFException(String s)
Creates an instance of the EOFException class, using the specified string as message. The string argument indicates the name of the class that threw the error.
The EOFException in Java
DataInputStreams provide methods that can read primitive Java data types from an underlying input stream in a machine-independent way. An application writes data, by using the methods provided by the OutputStream class, or the DataOutputStream class.
Specifically, primitive types can be read by an application, using one of the following methods:
readBoolean()– Reads one input byte and returnstrueif that byte is nonzero,falseif that byte is zero.readByte()– Reads and returns one input byte.readChar()– Reads two input bytes and returns acharvalue.readDouble()– Reads eight input bytes and returns adoublevalue.readFloat()– Reads four input bytes and returns afloatvalue.readInt()– Reads four input bytes and returns anintvalue.readLong()– Reads eight input bytes and returns alongvalue.readShort()– Reads two input bytes and returns ashortvalue.readUnsignedByte()– Reads one input byte and returns it as a zero-extendedintvalue. The integer value resides in the range [0, 255].readUnsignedShort()– Reads two input bytes and returns them as anintvalue. The integer value resides in the range [0, 65535].
For a list of all available methods, take a closer look on the DataInputStream class.
The following example reads all characters from an input file:
EOFExceptionExample.java:
import java.io.DataInputStream;
import java.io.DataOutputStream;
import java.io.EOFException;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
public class EOFExceptionExample {
//The name of the input file.
private final static String FILENAME = "input.txt";
private static void writeToFile() throws IOException {
DataOutputStream out = new DataOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(FILENAME));
//Write a string to the stream.
String str = "Hello from Java Code Geeks!";
for(int i = 0; i < str.length(); ++i)
out.writeChar(str.charAt(i));
//Close the data stream.
out.close();
return;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
DataInputStream input = null;
try {
//Write some integers to the file.
writeToFile();
// Read all characters, until an EOFException is thrown.
input = new DataInputStream(new FileInputStream(FILENAME));
while(true) {
char num;
try {
num = input.readChar();
System.out.println("Reading from file: " + num);
}
catch (EOFException ex1) {
break; //EOF reached.
}
catch (IOException ex2) {
System.err.println("An IOException was caught: " + ex2.getMessage());
ex2.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
catch (IOException ex) {
System.err.println("An IOException was caught: " + ex.getMessage());
ex.printStackTrace();
}
finally {
try {
// Close the input stream.
input.close();
}
catch(IOException ex) {
System.err.println("An IOException was caught: " + ex.getMessage());
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}
In this example we first, write a string to a file and then, use the readChar() method to read all written characters one-by-one.
A sample execution is shown below:
Reading from file: H Reading from file: e Reading from file: l Reading from file: l Reading from file: o Reading from file: Reading from file: f Reading from file: r Reading from file: o Reading from file: m Reading from file: Reading from file: J Reading from file: a Reading from file: v Reading from file: a Reading from file: Reading from file: C Reading from file: o Reading from file: d Reading from file: e Reading from file: Reading from file: G Reading from file: e Reading from file: e Reading from file: k Reading from file: s Reading from file: !
Once the EOFException is thrown, we only have to break from the reading loop and then, close the stream.
Download the Eclipse Project
This was a tutorial about the EOFException in Java.
You can download the full source code of this example here: EOFExceptionExample.zip.
