Java – instantiate ArrayList by reading rows from scanner, where to declare objects?

I want to fill the array list with lines from the input file, which is as follows:

7f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000027f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000027f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000020101
7f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000037f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000037f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000030101
7f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000047f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000047f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000040101
7f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000057f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000057f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000050101
7f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000067f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000067f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000060101

I want the data object in Java created based on this to take each of these rows as a new string, and they will exist together in the list, so to speak *

Therefore, when I try to read file lines into different components of this array list, I can't figure out where I need to declare the array list in the main program My plan is to populate it in a separate way:

import java.io.*;
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Array;
import java.util.ArrayList;

class evmTest {

public static void main(String[] args) {


    Array<String> inputLinesObject = new ArrayList<String>();

    // populate from file
    inputLinesObject = readFile("/Users/s.matthew.english/codes.txt",inputLinesObject);


    System.out.println(Array.toString(inputLinesObject));

}

    private static void readFile(String fileName,Array<String> inputLines) {
        try {
            File file = new File(fileName);
            Scanner scanner = new Scanner(file);
            while (scanner.hasNextLine()) {
                // System.out.println(scanner.nextLine());
                inputLines.add(scanner.nextLine());
            }
            scanner.close();
        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return inputLines;
    }

}

Maybe I can initially instantiate it as null and pass the empty array list to the method to be populated?

*The terminology in the last sentence is not entirely accurate - please forgive me - I'm readjusting my java vocabulary, but I think it should be clear enough what I'm trying to do If not, please let me know and I will be happy to clarify

Solution

Use this code for the readfile() method:

private static List<String> readFile(String fileName,List<String> inputLines) {
    try {
        File file = new File(fileName);
        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(file);
        while (scanner.hasNextLine()) {
            // System.out.println(scanner.nextLine());
            inputLines.add(scanner.nextLine());
        }
        scanner.close();
    } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    return inputLines;
}

Then call this readFile () method as follows:

List<String> inputLinesObject = new ArrayList<String>();
inputLinesObject = readFile("/Users/s.matthew.english/codes.txt",inputLinesObject);

for(String str : inputLinesObject){
     System.out.println(str);
}