How to use a constructor in Java?

I'm having an issue with my programs using a constructor. I can't seem to find where or why I need to put my constructor in. I can't tell if it is in there, or not.

Anyway, here is the main code:

import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.util.Scanner;

public class HangmanProject
{
    public static void main(String[] args) throws FileNotFoundException
    {
        public static void getFile() {

    getFile gf() = new getFile();
    Scanner test = gf.wordScan;      
   }     
}

So that's the main program, but it calls this one:

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.util.Scanner;

public class getFile 
          {  
    String wordList[] = new String[10];    // array to store all of the words
    int x = 0;
        
    Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);    // to read user's input

    System.out.println("Welcome to Hangman Project!");

                                 // Create a scanner to read the secret words file
    Scanner wordScan = null;

    try {
        wordScan = new Scanner(new BufferedReader(new FileReader("words.txt")));
        while (wordScan.hasNext()) {
            wordList[x] = wordScan.next();  
            System.out.println(wordList[x]);  
            x++;  
                                   }
        } 
    finally {
        if (wordScan != null)
        {
            wordScan.close();
        }
    }
}

My questions are:

• where is my constructor,
• am I using it correctly,
• should my layout be changed?

My instructor is telling me this:

"I still do not see the constructor method in your class where you should be initializing the instance variables for your class. You cannot just put code inside a class."

I really don't understand what that means.

First, I made a few modifications to your program. Your first big error was that you have a class called getFile, and also a method called getFile. Keep method names as method names, but class names are usually capitalized. I changed it to GetFile.

import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
public class HangmanProject{
   public static void main(String[] args) throws FileNotFoundException{ //this is the first thing that runs, the main method
      GetFile gf = new GetFile();  //this will create the getFile object
      try {
         gf.getWords(); //runs the method that we make later
      }
      catch(FileNotFoundException potatoes) {   //this will print out error message if there is no words.txt
         System.out.println(potatoes.getMessage());
      }                                
    } //closes main method
}

OK; now onto the actual class itself.

import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
public class GetFile {        
    //Here are your variables
    private String[] wordList = new String[10];   
    private int x = 0;                             
    //good practice to have variables private;
    //Now it is time for the constructor.
    public GetFile() 
       { 
     //empty constructor; you don't need to have any instance variables declared.
       } 
    public void getWords() throws FileNotFoundException {  //the big method for doing stuff
        Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);    // to read user's input
        System.out.println("Welcome to Hangman Project!");
        Scanner wordScan = null;
        wordScan = new Scanner(new File("words.txt"));
        while (wordScan.hasNext()) { //checking if there are more words
            wordList[x] = wordScan.next();  
            System.out.println(wordList[x]);  //print them out as the array is filled
            x++;  
            }
        if (wordScan != null)
           {
           wordScan.close(); //close the file after you are finished
           }
    }
}