No catch read ascii file package com.ack.j2se.io; import java.io.FileReader; public class NoCatchReadAsciiFile { public static void main( String[] args ) throws Exception { String myFile = "readme.txt"; StringBuffer buf = null; FileReader fr = null; try { fr = new FileReader( myFile ); int theChar; buf = new StringBuffer(); while( ( ( theChar = fr.read() ) != -1 ) ) { buf.append( (char) theChar ); } } finally { if( fr != null ) fr.close(); } if( buf != null ) System.out.println( buf ); } }