How do I create a Java string from the contents of a file

Question

I've been using the idiom below for some time now. And it seems to be the most wide-spread, at least on the sites I've visited.

Is there a better/different way to read a file into a string in Java?

private String readFile(String file) throws IOException {
    BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader (file));
    String         line = null;
    StringBuilder  stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
    String         ls = System.getProperty("line.separator");

    try {
        while((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
            stringBuilder.append(line);
            stringBuilder.append(ls);
        }

        return stringBuilder.toString();
    } finally {
        reader.close();
    }
}

Answer 1

If you're looking for an alternative that doesn't involve a third-party library (e.g. Commons I/O), you can use the Scanner class:

private String readFile(String pathname) throws IOException {

    File file = new File(pathname);
    StringBuilder fileContents = new StringBuilder((int)file.length());
    Scanner scanner = new Scanner(file);
    String lineSeparator = System.getProperty("line.separator");

    try {
        while(scanner.hasNextLine()) {
            fileContents.append(scanner.nextLine() + lineSeparator);
        }
        return fileContents.toString();
    } finally {
        scanner.close();
    }
}