public void getSavedLocations() { // System.out.println("inside getSavedLocations"); //CONSOLE * * * * * * * * * * * * * loc.clear(); // clear locations. helps refresh the list when reprinting all the locations BufferedWriter f = null; // just in case file has not been created yet BufferedReader br = null; try { // attempt to open the locations file if it doesn't exist, create it f = new BufferedWriter( new FileWriter("savedLocations.txt", true)); // evaluated true if file does not exist br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("savedLocations.txt")); String line; // each line is one index of the list loc.add("Saved Locations"); // loop and read a line from the file as long as we don't get null while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) // add the read word to the wordList loc.add(line); } catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } finally { try { // attempt the close the file br.close(); // close bufferedwriter } catch (IOException ex) { ex.printStackTrace(); } } }