Java – Byte Array to Reader

In this quick tutorial, we’re going to convert a simple byte array to a Reader using plain Java, Guava and finally the Apache Commons IO library.

This article is part of the “Java – Back to Basic” series here on VietMX’s Blog.

1. With Plain Java

Let’s start with the simple Java example, doing the conversion via an intermediary String:

@Test
public void givenUsingPlainJava_whenConvertingByteArrayIntoReader_thenCorrect() 
  throws IOException {
    byte[] initialArray = "With Java".getBytes();
    Reader targetReader = new StringReader(new String(initialArray));
    targetReader.close();
}

An alternative approach would be to make use of an InputStreamReader and a ByteArrayInputStream:

@Test
public void givenUsingPlainJava2_whenConvertingByteArrayIntoReader_thenCorrect() 
  throws IOException {
    byte[] initialArray = "Hello world!".getBytes();
    Reader targetReader = new InputStreamReader(new ByteArrayInputStream(initialArray));
    targetReader.close();
}

2. With Guava

Next – let’s take a look at the Guava solution, also using an intermediary String:

@Test
public void givenUsingGuava_whenConvertingByteArrayIntoReader_thenCorrect() 
  throws IOException {
    byte[] initialArray = "With Guava".getBytes();
    String bufferString = new String(initialArray);
    Reader targetReader = CharSource.wrap(bufferString).openStream();
    targetReader.close();
}

Unfortunately the Guava ByteSource utility doesn’t allow a direct conversion, so we still need to use the intermediary String representation.

3. With Apache Commons IO

Similarly – Commons IO also uses an intermediary String representation to convert the byte[] to a Reader:

@Test
public void givenUsingCommonsIO_whenConvertingByteArrayIntoReader_thenCorrect() 
  throws IOException {
    byte[] initialArray = "With Commons IO".getBytes();
    Reader targetReader = new CharSequenceReader(new String(initialArray));
    targetReader.close();
}

And there we have it – 3 simple ways to convert the byte array into a Java Reader. Make sure to check out the sample over on GitHub.