Question

public int countChars3(String fileName) {
        int total = 0;
        FileReader r = null;
        try {
            r = new FileReader(fileName);
        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            System.out.println("File named " + fileName + " not found. " + e);
            total = -1;
        }
        try {
            while (r.ready()) {
                try {
                    r.read();
                } catch (IOException e) {
                    System.out.println("IOException" + "occurred while counting " + "chars. " + e);
                    total = -1;
                }
                total++;
            }
        } catch (IOException e) {
            System.out.println("IOExceptionoccurred while counting chars. " + e);
            total = -1;
        }
        try {
            r.close();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            System.out.println("IOExceptionoccurred while counting chars. " + e);
            total = -1;
        }
        return total;
    }

The above code is an example of a tangled mess try-catch block. By reading through the code, they do look messy, there are several nested try-catches. In broad strokes, what is this tangled mess code block trying to demonstrate?

Answer 1

Just have the method throw it and let the client deal with it, also you should prob have a finally{} to close the resource.

public int countChars3(String fileName) throws IOException {
    int total = 0;
    FileReader reader = new FileReader(fileName);
    try {
        while (reader.ready()) {
            reader.read();
            total++;
        }
        reader.close();
    } finally {
        reader.close();
    }
    return total;
}

Also are you meaning to count chars or bytes, if bytes your entire code can be replaced with:

return (int) new File(fileName).length();