EOF in Java, does it exist???

[Phil Pe]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me on this EOF matter. Is there a general EOF check? I've read some other people's replies saying that there is a different check for different reading methods. I've got a test function below which just prints the output of the file on the screen (one char at a time, without spaces), but after it passes the actual EOF, it starts printing "???" endlessly. Don't worry about the list return, that's the continuation of the program.
Thnak you in advance for your help!
Phil

static List convert(BufferedReader input)
{
Vector searchVector = new Vector();
char charIn = '\0'; // dummy value

String word = "dummy value";
while (charIn != -1)
{
try
{
charIn = (char) input.read();
}
catch (IOException err)
{
System.out.println("Error reading file");
System.exit(1);
}
while (charIn != ' ' && charIn != -1)
{
boolean once = true;
if(word.equals("dummy value"))
{
word = new Character(charIn).toString();
break;
}
else
{
word = word + charIn;
System.out.println("FINAL WORDS: " + word);
break;
}
}
searchVector.add(word);
}
String[] searchArray = new String[searchVector.size()];
searchVector.copyInto(searchArray);
List lst = new Vector();
for (int i = 0; i<searchArray.length; i++)>
{
lst.add(searchArray[i]);
}
return lst;
}

[Gregg Bolinger]

I can never get EOF to compile. But---
while (reader != null) usually works.
So null instead of EOF.

[prasad bhn]

FileInputStream fis=new FileInputStream("c:\\a.txt");
generally, a null checking or checking for a return of -1 when read from the file, both works.
int ch=0;
while( (ch=fis.read())!=-1 )
{
System.out.print((char)ch);
}
fis.close();

HTH,
prasad.