Reading int value from text file, and using value to alter file contents to separate text file.(java)

Question

So I'm trying to read input from a text file, store it into variables, and then output an altered version of that text onto a different file using a variable from the file. I'm using Filereader, Scanner, and Printwriter to do this. I have to store the last line (which is a number) from this text document and use that number to multiply the body of text onto a different file without including the number.

So the text is: Original file text

And the output is SUPPOSED to be: desired output

I'm able to retrieve the number and store it into my multiplier variable and retrieve the text into my string BUT it's stored as a single line if I check inside the console: how the text is stored seen through console

so it outputs like this on the new file: undesired output

I'm pretty new to Java, forgive me if there are any questions I can't answer that could help solve any issues with my code.

I've tried adding +"\\n" to the file output line but no dice. I've also tried adding it to words += keys.nextLine() +"\\n" , and it separates the lines in the CONSOLE but not the file itself, unfortunately. Am I at least on the right track?

Here's my code:

public class fileRead {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException{
    String words = "" ; //Stores the text from file
    int multiplier = 1; // Stores the number

    FileReader fr = new FileReader("hw3q3.txt");
    Scanner keys = new Scanner(fr);

    //while loop returns true if there is another line of text will repeat and store lines of text until the last line which is an int
    while(keys.hasNextLine())
        if (keys.hasNextInt()) { //validation that will read lines until it see's an integer and stores that number
            multiplier = keys.nextInt(); //Stores the number from text
        } else {
            words += keys.nextLine();//Stores the lines of text
            keys.nextLine();
        }
    keys.close();
    PrintWriter outputFile =  new PrintWriter("hw3q3x3.txt");
    for(int i = 1; i <= multiplier; i++) {
        outputFile.println(words);

    }
    outputFile.close();
    System.out.println("Data Written");
    System.out.println(multiplier);//just to see if it read the number
    System.out.println(words); //too see what was stored in 'words'
}

}

Answer 1

See the if-statement below:

words += keys.nextLine(); //Stores the lines of text
if(words.endsWith(words.substring(words.lastIndexOf(" ")+1))) { //detect last word in sentence 
        words += '\n'; //after last word, append newline
}

...

for(int i = 1; i <= multiplier; i++) {
        outputFile.print(words); //change this to print instead of println
}

Basically, after the last word in the sentence within the file we want to append a newline character to start writing the next sentence from new line.

The above if-statement detects the end of the sentence by determining the last word within the words String, and then appending a newline character to the words String. This will yield the result that you are expecting.

Breaking down the expression for you:

words.substring(words.lastIndexOf(" ")+1)

Return the part of the String ( substring ) that is located at the index of the last whitespace in the String plus 1 ( lastIndexOf(" ") + 1 ) - ie we're getting the word after the last whitespace, so the last word.

Entire while-loop:

while(keys.hasNextLine()) {
    if (keys.hasNextInt()) { //validation that will read lines until it see's an integer and stores that number
        multiplier = keys.nextInt(); //Stores the number from text
    } else {
        words += keys.nextLine();//Stores the lines of text
        if(words.endsWith(words.substring(words.lastIndexOf(" ")+1))) {
            words += '\n';
        }
    }
}