import java.util.Scanner;

public class Echo
{
  public static void main (String[] args) 
  {
    String inData;
    Scanner scan = new Scanner( System.in );

    System.out.println("Enter the data:");
    inData = scan.nextLine();

    System.out.println("You entered:" + inData );
  }
}

Here is the Java program. It reads one line of characters from the keyboard and echoes them to the monitor.

First a Scanner object is created:

Then the user is prompted to type something in. Next a method of the Scanner is called:

This reads in one line of characters and creates a String object to contain them. A reference to this object is put into the reference variable inData. Next the characters from that String are sent to the monitor:

The line  import java.util.Scanner;  says to use the Scanner class from the package java.util. Here is a run of the program on a Windows system: