How to avoid the run time error "java.lang.OutOfMemoryError"

Question

hi
i have written a code to read a txt file ,i used FileReader to read a file . the code is working well for small txt files. but when i tried to read a large file(greater than 2MB), a run time error called "java.lang.OutofMemoryError" appeared .
plz suggest the methods to read txt files of large capacity(greater than 25MB) .if possible give an example.

Answer 1

thanks for ur replies
i am new to java programming .i am a student persuing B.Tech final semester .i got struck in my project while reading a large txt file(greater than 3MB) . i am now giving a part of code that i had used in my project .it working fine with the txt files less than 3MB ,but when i am treing to read a file greater than 3MB , it is displaying a run time error "java.lang.outofmemoryerror"
i have tried using "java -Xmx" ,it is working , but is there any better option ??
here is the part of code:
   FileReader fin;
    al=new ArrayList();
     try
          fin=new FileReader(filename);
     catch(FileNotFoundException e)
       System.out.println("File not foumn");
     return;
while((i=fin.read())!=-1)
       al.add(new Character((char)i));
     fin.close(); 
     Object obj[]=al.toArray();plz help me
--santosh