Question

I’m using this code to read a line of text from a file :

BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("myFile.txt"));
String line = br.readLine();

If the line contains tabs : (\t) then this character is not read correctly. It just appears as an empty space. How can I determine if a tab character is contained in the line of text currently being read ?

Answer 1

The text file contains \t characters but when I output the characters in the read String, it appears empty, ie the \t is not being read.

My first reaction would be that this is the fault of whatever it is that is displaying the output. Try redirecting the output to a file and viewing it with a tool that you KNOW will show any TAB characters if they are there. (For example, the od utility if you are using UNIX / Linux.) And check the input file too.

How can I determine if a tab character is contained in the line of text currently being read ?

    for (char ch : line.toCharArray()) {
        if (ch == '\t') {
            System.err.println("BINGO!!");
        }
    }