import java.io.BufferedReader; import java.io.IOException; import java.io.InputStreamReader; ... try{ BufferedReader inp = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));//stdin //new BufferedReader(new FileReader(filename)) for a file //new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(socket.getInputStream())) for a network stream while(inp.ready()){ String input = inp.readLine();//line-by-line only //in.read() for character-by-character //process the input here } } catch (IOException e) { //There was an input error }