Java tutorial
import javax.swing.JTextArea; import javax.swing.text.JTextComponent; public class Main { public static void main(String[] argv) throws Exception { JTextComponent tc = new JTextArea("Initial Text"); int docLength = tc.getDocument().getLength(); // Get all text String text = tc.getText(); // Get the first 3 characters int offset = 0; int len = 3; text = tc.getText(offset, len); } }