# 6 Best ways to convert inputstream into a string in java
In many development projects, we might need to convert an InputStream into a String in java.
In this tutorial we will discuss 6 simple and best ways to read or convert an InputStream into a String in Java.
Depending upon your project configuration, you can use any of the following methods.
For the purpose of this tutorial, let us assume "inputStream" is a variable of type InputStream.
``` Java
InputStream inputStream;
```
Here are the 6 best ways:
##### 1. Using Java 1.8+ inbuilt Streams package:
```java
String result = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(inputStream))
.lines().collect(Collectors.joining("\n"));
```
This method works with Java 1.8+
##### 2. Native Java Scanner way:
```java
try (Scanner scanner = new Scanner(inputStream).useDelimiter("\\A")) {
String result = scanner.hasNext() ? scanner.next() : "";
}
```
Note that "\\A" represents regex pattern for useDelimiter scanner method.
"\A" stands for :start of a string! . So when this pattern is supplied, whole stream is ready into the scanner object.
##### 3. Apache commons-io IOUtils way:
```java
String result = IOUtils.toString(inputStream);
```
For this method, Apache commons-io library should be included into your project. You can include it with the below maven link:
https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/commons-io/commons-io/2.6
##### 4. Using Google Guava library:
```java
String result = CharStreams.toString(new InputStreamReader(inputStream));
```
For this method, Guava library should be included into your project. You can include it with the below maven link:
https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.google.guava/guava/r09
#### 5. Spring Boot style:
```java
String content = StreamUtils.copyToString(inputStream, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
```
If you are using spring boot framework for your project you can use this. To include spring boot, you can use the below maven repo:
https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework/spring-core/5.2.4.RELEASE
#### 6. Plain old ByteArrayOutputStream way:
```java
ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
int length;
while ((length = inputStream.read(buffer)) != -1) {
baos.write(buffer, 0, length);
}
String result = baos.toString();
```
These are the 6 easy ways to convert inputStream to string in java. If you have any other better ways to solve this problem, drop your comments below.
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