Thread: Count number of paragraphs in a document

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.IOException;
 
public class Paragraph
{
    public static void main(String[] args) throws FileNotFoundException, IOException 
{
 
    BufferedReader readfile = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("output.txt"));
    String line = readfile.readLine();
    int count = 0;
    StringBuilder paragraph = new StringBuilder();
    while (true) {
        if (line==null || line.length() == 0) {
            count++;
            //System.out.println("paragraph " + count);
            //sparagraph.setLength(0);
            if(line == null)
                break;
        } else {
            paragraph.append(" ");
            paragraph.append(line);
        }
        line = readfile.readLine();
    }
    readfile.close();
    System.out.println("Number of paragraphs: "+ count);   
 
}

Originally Posted by Norm

Did you have a question?

Yes Norm, I did have a question.
I m not getting whats wrong with my code in calculating number of paragraphs in a document. For every input its giving answer as zero.
Please help me with this.
Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by Norm

Try debugging the code by adding some println() statements that print out the values of variables as their value changes. For example the value of line.
That will show you what the computer sees when it executes the code and help you understand why the code is doing what it does.

Thanks Norm, i tried printing value of line which results null everytime. I am really confused what to do

Are you sure you have compiled the above-posted code? Unless it was a copy-paste mistake, it's missing a close curly brace right at the end of the code listing to close off the class. Once the close curly brace is added, even with a completely empty output.txt file you'll get a "Number of paragraphs: 1", or a FileNotFoundException if output.txt is absent. Therefore it may be that it isn't compiling, and you have been testing with an earlier compiled but incomplete version of your code.

If this is not the case, please post your code that has println debug statements added, and attach a zipped copy of output.txt (in case there are hidden control characters messing things up).