Java Scanner in Loop only gets first input

Question

I'm trying to get multiple inputs from the user using a for loop. Within that loop I'm calling a function that includes a scanner. The program works fine when I call the function just once. But within a loop only the first time the function is called it works correctly. I've created a simplified example of the program below. How can I change this so the other iterations of the loop also work correctly?

import java.util.Scanner;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

    String response = "";

    for(int inputNr = 0; inputNr <=2; inputNr++) {
        response = getResponse();
        System.out.println(response);
    }

}

public static String getResponse() {

    String response = "";

    System.out.println("Enter a String");

    Scanner userInput = new Scanner(System.in);
        if(userInput.hasNextLine()) {
            response = userInput.nextLine();
        }
    userInput.close();

    return response;
}
}

The result looks like

Enter a String
This is what I entered...
This is what I entered...
Enter a String

Enter a String

M A · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-15 18:43:12Z

2

You're closing the Scanner object which is linked to the standard input stream System.in. This causes System.in to close and therefore no more input is accepted. On the next iteration userInput.hasNextLine() returns false. Create a single instance of Scanner and close it after all iterations of the loop are run.

private static Scanner userInput = new Scanner(System.in);

public static void main(String[] args) {

    String response = "";

    for (int inputNr = 0; inputNr <= 2; inputNr++) {
        response = getResponse();
        System.out.println(response);
    }

    userInput.close();
}

public static String getResponse() {

    String response = "";

    System.out.println("Enter a String");

    if (userInput.hasNextLine()) {
        response = userInput.nextLine();
    }

    return response;
}

edited Feb 15, 2015 at 18:43

answered Feb 15, 2015 at 18:36

M A

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