Thread: Code to open up a txt file and display only first five lines?

Im trying to write a java code for a homework problem in my intro java class but im having problems, frankly cause i dont know alot of loops and my text book doesnt help.

This is the problem:

Write a program that open the MyFile.txt and read from a file with these criteria.
1)-The program should display the first five lines of the file’s contents only.
2)-If the file contains less than five lines, it should display the file’s entire content. You must check for end of file and less than 6 lines on the loop iterations.
3)- your program should use loop to read the line by line of the file MyFile.txt.

The serperate myfile.txt has this

I can still remember, at the end of that year, we sat for the last time in our circle together.
She played us her favorite song, "like a bridge over troubled water"
and quietly passed out a gift she had made for each of us.
She had made each of us a pottery heart with our name and the date on it on the back each read
"I believe in ME".We all cried including her.
She told us she would always remember US. We believed she would.

and this is what the code is suppose to look like after you run it.
Java33.png


And this is what i have so far:
Java22.png


Can someone show me what needs to go next to complete the java script to show the first 5 lines of the text files? Im really at a road block with this.

Thanks for the reply. Ive looked over the tutorials, while i see how some of them may help me put together the problem, im still confused on putting them where and how.

import java.io.*;
public class FileReader
{
	public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
	{
		int counter=0;
		String str;
		FileReader freader = new FileReader("MyFile.txt");

Ok i got closer with this with the help of google.

import java.io.*;
 
public class ReadTextFileExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        File file = new File("MyFile.txt");
        StringBuilder contents = new StringBuilder();
        BufferedReader reader = null;
 
        try {
            reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));
            String text = null;
 
            while ((text = reader.readLine()) != null) {
                contents.append(text)
                        .append(System.getProperty(
                                "line.separator"));
            }
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } finally {
            try {
                if (reader != null) {
                    reader.close();
                }
            } catch (IOException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
 
        System.out.println(contents.toString());
    }
}

Ok it displays what i need it to display EXECPT it displays all 6 lines of the text files as suppose to just the first 5 which was a requirement for the problem. How do I display just the first five or leave out the last line?

Ok i finally got it. Thanks!

How did you get it fix to show 5 lines only? pls help
I am having an assignment exactly as this and do not know how to make it view 5lines. Please help! Thanks a lot