public int readLines () throws IOException {
			
		FileReader file_to_read = new FileReader(path);
		BufferedReader bf = new BufferedReader(file_to_read);
			
		@SuppressWarnings("unused")
		String aLine;
		int numberOfLines = 0;
		
		while((aLine = bf.readLine()) != null){
			numberOfLines++;
		}//end while
			
		bf.close();
		return numberOfLines;
	}//end method readLines