How can I read a combination of numbers and letters from a text file java-CodePudding

I have this text file containing various information so far I've been able to read everything except the Address details as they're separated by spaces and contain both numbers and letters so I'm a bit stuck as to what to do I've tried reading it as an int but I know that it wouldn't work.

This is my code:

public void methodName() {
File vData = new File("src/volunteer_data.txt");    // Create file object
try {                                                        // try catch to handle exception
    Scanner readFile = new Scanner(vData);                   // Create scanner object
    while (readFile.hasNextLine()) {                         //
        int volunteerID = readFile.nextInt();                // Read volunteerID as an int
        String vName = readFile.nextLine();                  // Read volunteer name as string
        // DATATYPE address = readFile.nextSOMETHING();      // Read address as ....
        String contact = readFile.nextLine();                // Read contact number as a string
    }
    readFile.close();                                        // Close scanner
} catch(FileNotFoundException e) {                             // Throw exception and stop program if error found
    e.printStackTrace();
}

Here is the text file that I am reading from. It is tab delimited:

VolunteerID Name    Address Contact
050 John    24 Willow Street    905-747-0876
042 Emily   362 Sunset Avenue   905-323-1234
013 Alice   16 Wonderland Street    905-678-0987
071 Arthur  36 York Road    905-242-5643
060 Daniel  125 Ottawa Street   905-666-3290
055 Peppa   64 Great Britain Blvd   905-212-4365
024 Sean    909 Green Avenue    905-232-5445
077 Kim 678 Grape Garden    905-080-7641
098 Patrick 126 Oxford Street   905-099-9535
092 Laura   45 Mill Street  905-244-0086
008 Gary    84 California Street    905-767-3456

CodePudding user response：

My advice is to forget scanning each column separately using nextInt() etc. It leads to pain and suffering in the long run. Instead, scan the whole line and work with the line: split it into a String[] of columns, then work with the columns separately:

readFile.nextLine(); // skip heading line (if there is one)
while (readFile.hasNextLine()) {  
    String line = readFile.nextLine(); // read whole line
    String[] columns = line.split("\t"); // split line on tab char

    // get each column into variables
    int volunteerID = Integer.parseInt(columns[0]);
    String vName = columns[1];
    String address = columns[2]; // no big deal
    String contact = columns[3];

    // do something with variables
}

Strictly speaking, you don't even need the variables. Yo could work directly with the array and an index, but it's much easier to read and debug when you use well-named variables.