try/catch with InputMismatchException creates infinite loop

So I'm building a program which takes ints from user input. I have what seems to be a very straightforward try/catch block which, if the user doesn't enter an int, should repeat the block until they do. Here's the relevant part of the code:

import java.util.InputMismatchException;
import java.util.Scanner;


public class Except {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
        boolean bError = true;
        int n1 = 0, n2 = 0, nQuotient = 0;

        do {
            try {
                System.out.println("Enter first num: ");
                n1 = input.nextInt();
                System.out.println("Enter second num: ");
                n2 = input.nextInt();
                nQuotient = n1/n2;
                bError = false;
            } 
            catch (Exception e) {
                System.out.println("Error!");
            }
        } while (bError);

        System.out.printf("%d/%d = %d",n1,n2, nQuotient);
    }
}

If I enter a 0 for the second integer, then the try/catch does exactly what it's supposed to and makes me put it in again. But, if I have an InputMismatchException like by entering 5.5 for one of the numbers, it just shows my error message in an infinite loop. Why is this happening, and what can I do about it? (By the way, I have tried explicitly typing InputMismatchException as the argument to catch, but it didn't fix the problem.

Solution 1:

You need to call next(); when you get the error. Also it is advisable to use hasNextInt()

       catch (Exception e) {
            System.out.println("Error!");
           input.next();// Move to next other wise exception
        }

Before reading integer value you need to make sure scanner has one. And you will not need exception handling like that.

    Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
    int n1 = 0, n2 = 0;
    boolean bError = true;
    while (bError) {
        if (scanner.hasNextInt())
            n1 = scanner.nextInt();
        else {
            scanner.next();
            continue;
        }
        if (scanner.hasNextInt())
            n2 = scanner.nextInt();
        else {
            scanner.next();
            continue;
        }
        bError = false;
    }
    System.out.println(n1);
    System.out.println(n2);

Javadoc of Scanner

When a scanner throws an InputMismatchException, the scanner will not pass the token that caused the exception, so that it may be retrieved or skipped via some other method.

Solution 2:

YOu can also try the following

   do {
        try {
            System.out.println("Enter first num: ");
            n1 = Integer.parseInt(input.next());

            System.out.println("Enter second num: ");
            n2 = Integer.parseInt(input.next());

            nQuotient = n1/n2;

            bError = false;
        } 
        catch (Exception e) {
            System.out.println("Error!");
            input.reset();
        }
    } while (bError);

Solution 3:

another option is to define Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in); inside the try block, this will create a new object each time you need to re-enter the values.

Solution 4:

To follow debobroto das's answer you can also put after

input.reset();
input.next(); 

I had the same problem and when I tried this. It completely fixed it.

Solution 5:

As the bError = false statement is never reached in the try block, and the statement is struck to the input taken, it keeps printing the error in infinite loop.

Try using it this way by using hasNextInt()

catch (Exception e) {
            System.out.println("Error!");
           input.hasNextInt();         
        }

Or try using nextLine() coupled with Integer.parseInt() for taking input....

Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);

int num1 = Integer.parseInt(scan.nextLine());
int num2 = Integer.parseInt(scan.nextLine());