How to Read Specific Data from Two Text Files in Java and Store it in a Stack for Processing

Learn how to efficiently read specific data from two text files in Java and store it in a stack. This post guides you through file I/O in Java with a simple and effective approach.
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How to Read Specific Data from Two Text Files in Java and Store it in a Stack for Processing

File I/O in Java is a fundamental aspect when it comes to handling data storage and retrieval in applications. Often, you may come across scenarios where you need to read specific data from two different text files and store it in a structure like a stack for further processing. Here’s how you can achieve that efficiently in Java.

Pre-requisites
Before we dive into the actual code, make sure you have:

Java Development Kit (JDK) installed.

An Integrated Development Environment (IDE) like IntelliJ IDEA or Eclipse.

Two text files from which data needs to be read.

The Approach

Setting Up Stack and File Reading Mechanism:

In Java, the Stack class can be utilized to store data in a last-in-first-out (LIFO) manner. We will also use BufferedReader to read the files line-by-line efficiently.

Reading from Files:

We will employ a method to open, read lines, and close the text files automatically using try-with-resources. This ensures proper resource management.

Storing Data in Stack:

For each line read from the files, we add it to our stack for subsequent processing.

Let’s see how this can be implemented:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Explanation

Stack Initialization:
We start by initializing a Stack<String> to store the lines from the textual data.

File Paths:
Path to the two files is defined as file1Path and file2Path.

Reading and Pushing to Stack:
The method readFileAndPushToStack does the heavy lifting. It opens the file, reads it line-by-line using BufferedReader, and pushes each line onto the stack.

Custom Logic:
You can customize the logic inside the while loop to filter and push only the specific data you need.

Processing the Stack:
Finally, we process the stack by popping elements out until it's empty, demonstrating how to handle the data subsequently.

Conclusion

Reading and processing data from files in Java using a stack is a straightforward task once you understand the basic file I/O operations. This approach ensures that your application efficiently manages file resources and processes data in a manner that can be easily maintained and extended.

With this setup, you can further tailor the reading and processing logic to cater to more complex data extraction needs, enhancing the functionality of your Java applications.