Reading string input in Java - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Reading string input

📖 Scenario: You are creating a simple Java program that asks a user for their name and then greets them.

🎯 Goal: Build a Java program that reads a user's name from the keyboard and prints a greeting message.

📋 What You'll Learn

Use Scanner to read input from the user

Store the input in a variable called name

Print a greeting message using the name variable

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Reading user input is essential for interactive programs like games, forms, and command-line tools.

💼 Career

Many programming jobs require handling user input safely and effectively, especially in Java backend or desktop applications.

1

Set up Scanner to read input

Write a line to create a Scanner object called scanner to read from System.in.

Java

import java.util.Scanner;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Create Scanner object called scanner
        
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in); to read input from the keyboard.

2

Read the user's name

Write a line to read a full line of text from the user using scanner.nextLine() and store it in a variable called name.

Java

import java.util.Scanner;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
        // Read user input line into variable name
        
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use String name = scanner.nextLine(); to read the user's full input line.

3

Create a greeting message

Write a line to create a variable called greeting that stores the text "Hello, " followed by the name variable and an exclamation mark.

Java

import java.util.Scanner;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
        String name = scanner.nextLine();
        // Create greeting message using name
        
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use string concatenation with "Hello, " + name + "!" to create the greeting.

4

Print the greeting message

Write a line to print the greeting variable using System.out.println().

Java

import java.util.Scanner;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
        String name = scanner.nextLine();
        String greeting = "Hello, " + name + "!";
        // Print the greeting message
        
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use System.out.println(greeting); to show the greeting on the screen.