Java - CharArrayReader skip(long n) method

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Description

The Java CharArrayReader skip(long n) method skips the specified number of characters from the current reading position. If n is greater than the remaining characters, it skips only up to the end of the stream.

Declaration

Following is the declaration for java.io.CharArrayReader.skip(long n) method −

 public long skip(long n) 

Parameters

n− The number of characters to be skipped.

Return Value

The number of characters actually skipped.

Exception

IOException − If any I/O error occurs or the stream is closed.

Example - Using CharArrayReader skip() method

The following example shows the usage of Java CharArrayReader skip() method.

CharArrayReaderDemo.java

 package com.tutorialspoint; import java.io.CharArrayReader; import java.io.IOException; public class CharArrayReaderDemo { public static void main(String[] args) { CharArrayReader car = null; char[] ch = {'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E'}; try { // create new character array reader car = new CharArrayReader(ch); int value = 0; // read till the end of the stream while((value = car.read())!=-1) { // convert integer to char char c = (char)value; // print characters System.out.print(c + "; "); // skip single character long l = car.skip(1); System.out.println("Characters Skipped : "+l); } } catch(IOException e) { // if I/O error occurs e.printStackTrace(); } finally { // releases any system resources associated with the stream if(car!=null) car.close(); } } } 

Output

Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result −

 A; Characters Skipped : 1 C; Characters Skipped : 1 E; Characters Skipped : 0 

Example - Skipping the First Few Characters

The following example shows the usage of Java CharArrayReader skip() method.

CharArrayReaderDemo.java

 package com.tutorialspoint; import java.io.CharArrayReader; import java.io.IOException; public class CharArrayReaderDemo { public static void main(String[] args) { char[] data = "Java Programming Language".toCharArray(); try (CharArrayReader reader = new CharArrayReader(data)) { System.out.println("Initial content: " + new String(data)); // Skip first 5 characters ("Java ") reader.skip(5); System.out.println("After skipping 5 characters, reading the rest:"); // Read and print remaining characters int charData; while ((charData = reader.read()) != -1) { System.out.print((char) charData); } } catch (IOException e) { System.err.println("IOException occurred: " + e.getMessage()); } } } 

Output

Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result −

 Initial content: Java Programming Language After skipping 5 characters, reading the rest: Programming Language 

Explanation

• Initialize CharArrayReader with "Java Programming Language".

• Call skip(5) to skip the first 5 characters ("Java ").

• Read and print remaining characters ("Programming Language").

• If skip(n) exceeds available characters, it stops at the end of the stream.

Example - Skipping More Characters Than Available

The following example shows the usage of Java CharArrayReader reset() method.

CharArrayReaderDemo.java

 package com.tutorialspoint; import java.io.CharArrayReader; import java.io.IOException; public class CharArrayReaderDemo { public static void main(String[] args) { char[] data = "Short Text".toCharArray(); try (CharArrayReader reader = new CharArrayReader(data)) { System.out.println("Initial content: " + new String(data)); // Try to skip more characters than available long skipped = reader.skip(50); System.out.println("Characters skipped: " + skipped); // Check if we reached the end if (reader.read() == -1) { System.out.println("Reached the end of the stream after skipping."); } } catch (IOException e) { System.err.println("IOException occurred: " + e.getMessage()); } } } 

Output

Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result −

 Initial content: Short Text Characters skipped: 10 Reached the end of the stream after skipping. 

Explanation

• Initialize CharArrayReader with "Short Text".

• Call skip(50), which is greater than the available 10 characters.

• skip() only skips the remaining characters (10 in this case) and returns 10, not 50.

• Reading after skip returns -1, indicating the end of the stream.

Key Takeaways About skip(long n)

• Skips n characters from the current position.

• If n exceeds remaining characters, it stops at the end.

• Does not throw an error when skipping beyond available datait just returns the actual number of skipped characters.

• Efficient for skipping unwanted data before processing relevant content.

These examples show how skip() helps ignore parts of a character stream efficiently!