Java Two Dimensional Array Student Record Input

Question

I'm studying Java and I've been working on this exercise for 2 days now. I've foraged the internet for answers but I can't seem to find the best one to solve my problem which are: 1. How to store the Strings input (like fName, mName //or am i doing this right?) into a two dimensional array. I've seen some sample programs with the syntax like:

fName = fName.getText();
lName = lname.getText();

but they don't seem to fit with what i'm trying to code and i can't go around it either coz im just a begginer.

1. How to print all the input after all the loop thing. Like when the user input "4" in the "Enter number of students", 4 student information will be printed.

Here is my initial non-working code:

import java.io.*;
public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args)throws IOException{
        BufferedReader datain = new BufferedReader (new InputStreamReader (System.in));

        String fName, lName, course, yrLevel, bDate;
        int age;
        int arr [] [];
        int size;

     System.out.print("Enter number of students: \n");
        size = Integer.parseInt(datain.readLine());
        arr = new int [size][];

        for(int a = 0; a < arr.length; a++){

        System.out.print("Enter first name: \n");
        fName = datain.readLine();
        /*insert code here to store fName to two dimensional array
        like this one? arr [0] = new int [a]; */
        System.out.print("Enter last name: ");
        lName = datain.readLine();
        System.out.print("Enter course: ");
        course = datain.readLine();
        System.out.print("Enter year level: ");
        yrLevel = datain.readLine();
        System.out.print("Enter age: ");      
        age = Integer.parseInt(datain.readLine());
    }
       /* desired output be like:
       Student 1
       Name: Bat Man
       Year Level: Graduate School
       Birthdate: Feb. 20, 2012
       Age: 7

       Student 2
       Name: Super Man
       Year Level: Masteral
       Birthdate: Jan. 1, 2012
       Age: 8
        */
        System.out.println("Name: " +arr[0][0] + " " + arr[0] [1]); //just me showing my non-working idea of printing them.
    }
}

Answer 1

Rather than using a multi-dimensional array you should create a small object that stores student details. Like this:

public class Student {

    public String name;
    public String yearLevel;
    //etc...

    //constructor
    public Student(String name, String yearLevel, etc...) {
        this.name = name;
        this.yearLevel = yearLevel;
        //etc...
    }
}

Then get the data from the user input and construct a student using it. And the students can then be stored in an array:

Student[] students = new Student[numberOfStudents];

Or even better you can store the students in an array list, then you don't have to know the number of students required:

ArrayList<Student> students = new ArrayList<Student>();