input for arraylist using readline() of BufferedReader - collections

Question

I am trying to take input and add them in an arraylist, using BufferedReader.
The code is taking endless inputs and it is not advancing to further lines (not exiting the for-loop).
Please find my below code:
public class ALinput {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
int n2 = br.read();// number of items in the list
ArrayList<String> list2 = new ArrayList<String>();
for(int i =1;i<=n2;++i)
{
list2.add(br.readLine());
}
System.out.println(list2);//printing list before sorting
Collections.sort(list2);//sorting the list
System.out.println("After sorting "+list2);
}
}
I have taken n2 as number of elements in the array list.
if input n2 = 5;
the readLine keeps on taking text input endlessly without exiting after 5 strings are added to the arraylist.
Its not coming out of the for loop. Please help me understand the mistake I am doing here.

Answer 1

It actually isn't going forever, the character code for a zero is 48, one is 49, two is 50, and so on. so when you type in a 5, the computer reads it's character value, and stores n2 as 53, and let's you type in 52 inputs. why 52 instead of 53?
well theres a second mistake, br.read() only looks at the first byte of input, so one character. the first time br.readLine() is called, it finishes reading whatever was on the line after the first number you typed. to fix these problems, just change
int n2 = br.read();
to
int n2 = Integer.parseInt(br.readLine());
and voila! done!
P.S. you might want to surround the Integer.parseInt() in a try catch block, in case the user types in something besides a number.