Java FileReader.read() is a method in the Java FileReader class that reads a single character or an array of characters from a file. It is part of the basic I/O API in Java and is commonly used for reading text files character by character or in chunks. Introduced in Java 1995 with Java 1.0, read() is one of the primary methods for reading text files in Java applications.

https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/io/FileReader.html