How to ignore delimiter string

Question

Hi, I am currently using a Scanner in conjunction with a delimiter to read in Information from a text file.
               String t = inFile.next();
               int numbOfCand = Integer.parseInt(t);
               for(int i = 0; i < numbOfCand; i++)
                    inFile.useDelimiter(";");
                    String candName = inFile.next();
                    inFile.useDelimiter("\r\n");
                    String candAffil = inFile.next();
                    Candidate CurrentCand = new Candidate(candName, candAffil);
                    newBallot.addCandidate(CurrentCand);
               return newBallot;
     The problem is, after I have stored these strings into an ArrayList and spit them back out on the console. The ";" from the original text file also gets printed back out on the console, along with an extra linebreak. What can I modify to prevent this from being referenced into the String variables?
Thanks.

Answer 1

I've just seen what happens...
Scanner's next() returns the next token using the current delimiter. When you change the delimiter the "pointer" (the current reading position) of the scanner will be just before the old delimiter. Hence every time you call next() you are getting a string that starts with the old delimter. So the names all have "\r\n" in front of them and the affiliations all have ";" in front of them.
One way would be to not keep changing the delimiters. Use a single delimiter - a pattern that recognises either a ; or the "\r\n" sequence.
import java.util.Scanner;
public class Vote {
    public static void main(String args[])
            // to test
        String data = "2\r\nFred;Red\r\nBruce;Blue\r\n";
        Scanner inFile = new Scanner(data);
            // use this delimiter pattern instead of the ones below
        //inFile.useDelimiter("(\r\n)|;");
        String t = inFile.next();
        int numbOfCand = Integer.parseInt(t);
        for(int i = 0; i < numbOfCand; i++)
            inFile.useDelimiter(";");
            String candName = inFile.next();
            System.out.println("candName read as: " + candName);
            inFile.useDelimiter("\r\n");
            String candAffil = inFile.next();
            System.out.println("candAffil read as: " + candAffil);
            //Candidate CurrentCand = new Candidate(candName, candAffil);
            //newBallot.addCandidate(CurrentCand);
        //return newBallot;
}Of course this assumes that ; won't ever occur as part of an affiliation, and "\r\n" as part of a name.