StreamGobbler

The StreamGobbler class constantly consumes the input from an InputStream, and distribute the input lines to a listener. This is often useful when using ProcessBuilder and listen to the InputStream coming from the external process..

Contrary to many implementations seen on the Web, this class defer the actual work to a listener.

Example

The following code will redirect the output of an executable (normally on the console) to a List of Strings:

   ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("my_executable.exe");
   Process process = pb.start();
      
   StreamGobbler outgobbler = new StreamGobbler(process.getInputStream());
   List<String> lines = new ArrayList<>
   outgobbler.setListener(new StreamGobbler.Listener() {
      @Override
      public void readLine(String line) {
         lines.add(line);
      }

      @Override
      public void close() {
      }
   });
   errorgobbler.start();
   outgobbler.start();