File Handling in Java
Introduction
• File handling in Java refers to the process of working with files,
such as creating, reading, writing, and manipulating data within
files.
• Java provides a set of classes and methods in the java.io package
to perform file handling operations.
Why file handling is required?
• Enables us to store the output of any particular program in a file and
allows us to perform certain operations on it.
• Data Sharing: Files facilitate the sharing of data between different
programs or between different instances of the same program.
• Configuration and Settings: Many applications use files to store
configuration settings and preferences. This allows users to customize the
behavior of an application.
File operations in Java
The following are the several operations that can be performed
on a file in Java ,
• Create a File
• Read from a File
• Write to a File
• Delete a File
Create a file
• To create a file in Java, you can use
the createNewFile() method.
• This method returns a boolean value: true if the file was
successfully created, and false if the file already exists. Note
that the method is enclosed in a try...catch block.
• This is necessary because it throws an IOException if an error
occurs (if the file cannot be created for some reason):
import java.io.File; // Import the File class
import java.io.IOException; // Import the IOException class to
handle errors
public class CreateFile {
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
File myObj = new File("filename.txt");
if (myObj.createNewFile()) {
System.out.println("File created: " + myObj.getName());
} else {
System.out.println("File already exists.");
}
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("An error occurred.");
}
}
}
To create a file in a specific directory
ile myObj = new File("C:\\Users\\MyName\\filename.txt");
Write to a file
import java.io.FileWriter; // Import the FileWriter class
import java.io.IOException; // Import the IOException class to handle errors
public class WriteToFile {
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
Use the FileWriter class together
FileWriter myWriter = new FileWriter("filename.txt");
with its write() method to write some
myWriter.write("This file contains important information"); text to the file
myWriter.close();
System.out.println("Successfully wrote to the file.");
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("An error occurred.");
//e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
Read a file
import java.io.File; // Import the File class
import java.io.FileNotFoundException; // Import this class to handle errors
import java.util.Scanner; // Import the Scanner class to read text files
public class ReadFile {
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
File myObj = new File("filename.txt"); Use the Scanner class to read the
Scanner myReader = new Scanner(myObj); contents of the text file created
while (myReader.hasNextLine()) { previously
String data = myReader.nextLine();
System.out.println(data);
}
myReader.close();
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
System.out.println("An error occurred.");
//e.printStackTrace();
}
}
Delete a file
import java.io.File; // Import the File class
public class DeleteFile {
public static void main(String[] args) { To delete a file in Java,
File myObj = new File("filename.txt"); use the delete() method:
if (myObj.delete()) {
System.out.println("Deleted the file: " + myObj.getName());
} else {
System.out.println("Failed to delete the file.");
}
}
}
