Unable to open file in JAVA - java

I am trying to open a file in JAVA using BufferedReader but it cannot open the file. Here is my code
public static void main(String[] args) {
try
{
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("test.txt"));
String line = null;
while ((reader.readLine()!= null))
{
line = reader.readLine();
System.out.println(line);
}
reader.close();
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
System.out.println("Unable to open file ");
}
}
It goes to the exception and prints Unable to open file. Any suggestions why I cannot able to read it.

If you want to be more nearly modern, try the Java 7 solution, taken from the Paths Javadoc:
final Path path = FileSystems.getDefault().getPath("test.txt"); // working directory
try (final Reader r = Files.newBufferedReader(path, StandardCharsets.UTF_8)) {
String line = null;
while ((line = r.readLine()) != null) {
System.out.println(line);
}
} // No need for catch; let IOExceptions bubble up.
// No need for finally; try-with-resources auto-closes.
You'll need to declare main as throwing IOException, but that's okay. You have no coherent way of handling IOException anyway. Just read the stack trace if an exception is triggered.

I don't know why this happened, but the problem seemed that I did not enter the complete path for the file even though the file was in the same folder. Ideally if the file is in the same folder then I wouldn't need to enter the entire pathname.

Try doing a check if it exists first:
File file = new File("test.txt");
if (!file.exists()) {
System.err.println(file.getName() + " not found. Full path: " + file.getAbsolutePath());
/* Handling code, or */
return;
}
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));
/* other code... */

Related

How to check if a file exists in java

Im having a problem in checking if a file exists in Java. However the IF block seems to work , but the ELSE seems dont. see, when a file exist, it will prompt a box that says, 'File found.' which happens in my program whenever a file do exist, the problem is errors flood in my console when a file dont exist. Can somebody tell me what's the easier and shorter way of coding my problem? thanks ! here's my code
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
BufferedReader br = null;
File f = new File(textField.getText());
String path = new String("C:\\Users\\theBeard\\workspace\\LeapYear\\");
try {
String sCurrentLine;
br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(path+f));
if (f.exists())
{
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, textField.getText()+" found" );
while ((sCurrentLine = br.readLine()) != null) {
textArea.append(sCurrentLine);
textArea.append(System.lineSeparator());
}
}
else
{
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, textField.getText()+" not found" );
}
} catch (IOException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
} finally {
try {
if (br != null)
{
br.close();
}
} catch (IOException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
});
The problem is with this line:
br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(path+f));
You're appending a File to a String, which doesn't make sense. You should append a String to a String, in this case textField.getText()) appended to path.
This line will throw an exception if the file doesn't exist as per the documentation of FileReader:
Throws:
FileNotFoundException - if the named file does not exist, is a directory rather than a regular file, or for some other reason cannot be opened for reading.
This causes your program to reach the catch clause and print an exception stack trace. You should only call this line when f.exists() returns true:
if (f.exists())
{
br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(path + textField.getText()));
...
}
Look at these lines of your code:
br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(path+f));
if (f.exists())
You are trying to open the file before checking whether it exists. So if the attempt to open it fails with a FileNotFoundException, the test is never reached.
String path = "C:\\Path\\To\File\\Directory\\";
String fileName = "NameOfFile.ext";
File f = new File(path, fileName);
if(f.exists()) {
//<code for file existing>
} else {
//<code for file not existing>
}
You have to instantiate the BufferedReader after checking the existence of the file.
String path = new String("C:\\Users\\theBeard\\workspace\\LeapYear\\");
File f = new File(path + textField.getText());
...
if (f.exists())
{
br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(f.getAbsolutePath())); // or br = new BufferedReader(f);
...

Using a Dynamic path for a csv file

I have a program that saves on a file. The current code is set for the file to save on a specific path, but when I run the program from a different computer the program doesn't work and I need to change the path everytime.
public CreateCustomer() {
initComponents();
ArrayList<String> ConsIDList = new ArrayList<String>();
String csvFileToRead = "E:\\ryan_assignment_sit2\\ConsID\\consID.csv"; // Reads the CSV File.
BufferedReader br = null; // Creates a buffer reader.
String line = "";
String splitBy = ","; // Reader Delimiter
try {
br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(csvFileToRead)); // Buffer Reader with file name to read.
Scanner reader = new Scanner(System.in);
while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) { //While there is a line to read.
reader = new Scanner(line);
reader.useDelimiter(splitBy);
while (reader.hasNext()) { // While there is a next value (token).
ConsIDList.add(reader.next());
}
}
} catch (FileNotFoundException exception) { // Exception Handler if the File is not Found.
exception.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException exception) { // Input/Output exception
exception.printStackTrace();
} finally {
if (br != null) {
try {
br.close(); // Close the Scanner.
} catch (IOException exception) {
exception.printStackTrace();
}
}
I placed the file in the a subfolder in the program with the name ConsID and I tried changing the path file to
String csvFileToRead = "..\\ConsID\\consID.csv";
But the file can't be read from the program.
String csvFileToRead = "E:\ryan_assignment_sit2\ConsID\consID.csv";
The above path will only be applicable to windows. If you execute the program in linux environment you will get an Filenotfoundexception. Eventhough you change the file, again you are hardcoding the file path.
Better you can get it as runtime parameters so that the program will be executed irrespective of OS.
If you are running you program from command line then you can place the csv file in your classpath (root folder where the class files are generated) and refer to it as below:
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(ClassLoader.getResourceAsStream("consID.csv"));

BufferedReader/FileReader is not finding path correctly even with try/catch

I am trying to read from a text file using BufferedReader and FileReader and I am constantly running into this problem:
java.io.FileNotFoundException: dicomTagList.txt (The system cannot find the file specified)C:\temp\workspace\DICOMVALIDATE\dicomTagList.txt
I can't seem to find out why this is occurring when I have that file in the correct directory and was able to even verify it with getAbsolutePath() Method in FileReader.
Can anyone advise why this may be?
Here is my code snippet:
public void readFromTextFile(File path) throws IOException
{
try
{
System.out.println(dicomList.getAbsolutePath());
String line;
BufferedReader bReader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(dicomList));
while( (line = bReader.readLine()) != null)
{
System.out.println(line);
}
bReader.close();
}
catch(FileNotFoundException e)
{
System.err.print(e);
}
catch(IOException i)
{
System.err.print(i);
}
}
Are you sure that the file really exists? What will the following expression print:
dicomList.exists();
In Java java.io.File is representing just a path to a file, not necessarily a real file. This means you can create File object even if the underlying path does not exist.

Deleting and renaming file

So I'm trying to delete a line of data from a file, which I have successfully done by opening a new file and writing all the information that doesn't match with the data that I would like to remove. The problem is, after I have done that, I would like to delete my original file, and then rename the new file with excludes the information I wanted to delete, to the same name as the original file. I have added in the code to do this, but for some reason it's not working.
public static void delete() throws IOException
{
File inputFile = new File("Elements.txt");
File tempFile = new File("myTempFile.txt");
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(inputFile));
BufferedWriter writer = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(tempFile));
String element = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null, "Enter the name of the Element you wish to delete.", "Remove an Element.", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);;
String currentLine;
while((currentLine = reader.readLine()) != null) {
String trimmedLine = currentLine.trim();
if(trimmedLine.startsWith(element)) continue;
writer.write(currentLine + System.getProperty("line.separator"));
}
writer.close();
reader.close();
inputFile.delete();
tempFile.renameTo(inputFile);
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Data has been removed from the file: Elements.txt");
}
As you can see near the bottom, I have these lines:
inputFile.delete();
tempFile.renameTo(inputFile);
These lines are meant to delete my original file(inputFile) and then rename my new file(tempFile) to the file name that the original file had. After running the code however, I simply get a file called "myTempFile.txt" which has succesfully deleted the line of data that I wanted, but my original file is still present and it wasn't deleted, neither was the new file renamed to the original file.
Any idea why this is happening?
Use the java.nio.file API. This is 2015.
final Path src = Paths.get("Elements.txt").toAbsolutePath();
final Path tmp = src.resolveSibling("Elements.txt.new");
try (
final BufferedReader reader = Files.newBufferedReader(src, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
final BufferedWriter writer = Files.newBufferedWriter(tmp, StandardCharsets.UTF_8,
StandardOpenOption.CREATE_NEW);
) {
// yadda yadda
}
Files.move(tmp, src, StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING);
File is unreliable. It has always been.
in such a case i would start fiddling around, reading documentation and maybe googling for a bit. But i will give you an answer, too!
inputFile.delete();
This could go wrong, for example if you have your file opened in a text editor.
Luckily delete() returns a boolean, try checking that!
Also as Niels correctly mentioned File.renameTo() is quite unrelieble if you have access to Java 7 use the files.nio alternative. In Java 7 you can use Files.move(Path source, Path target, CopyOption... options)
Docs for Java 7 Files: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/nio/file/Files.html
But your very code works correctly for me. I only change the path to the file and I make sure the file is not opened in editor
public class NewClass {
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
delete();
} catch (IOException ex) {
Logger.getLogger(NewClass.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}
}
public static void delete() throws IOException {
File inputFile = new File("C:\\Users\\olyjosh\\Desktop\\Elements.txt");
File tempFile = new File("C:\\Users\\olyjosh\\Desktop\\myTempFile.txt");
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(inputFile));
BufferedWriter writer = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(tempFile));
String element = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null, "Enter the name of the Element you wish to delete.", "Remove an Element.", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);;
String currentLine;
while ((currentLine = reader.readLine()) != null) {
String trimmedLine = currentLine.trim();
if (trimmedLine.startsWith(element)) {
continue;
}
writer.write(currentLine + System.getProperty("line.separator"));
}
writer.close();
reader.close();
inputFile.delete();
tempFile.renameTo(inputFile);
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Data has been removed from the file: Elements.txt");
}
}

Cannot delete file Java

I have this method that gets the last line of a .txt file and creates a new temp file without that line. But when I try to delete the .txt that has the line I want to delete (so then I can rename the temp file) for some reason I can't. This is the code:
void removeFromLocal() throws IOException {
String lineToRemove = getLastLine();
File inputFile = new File("nexLog.txt");
File tempFile = new File("TempnexLog.txt");
BufferedReader reader = null;
BufferedWriter writer = null;
try {
reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(inputFile));
writer = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(tempFile));
String currentLine;
int i = 0;
while ((currentLine = reader.readLine()) != null) {
i++;
String trimmedLine = currentLine.trim();
if (!trimmedLine.equals(lineToRemove)) {
if (i != 1) {
writer.newLine();
}
writer.write(currentLine);
}
}
reader.close();
reader = null;
writer.flush();
writer.close();
writer = null;
System.gc();
inputFile.setWritable(true);
if (!inputFile.delete()) {
System.out.println("Could not delete file");
return;
}
if (!tempFile.renameTo(inputFile)) {
System.out.println("Could not rename file");
}
//boolean successful = tempFile.renameTo(inputFile);
} catch (IOException ex) {
Logger.getLogger(dropLog.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}
}
Whats funny is that when I press the button that calls the method once, nothing happens ("Could not delete file"), the second time it works fine and the 3rd I get "Could not rename file".
The file cannot be deleted when it's been opened by another process. E.g. in notepad or so or maybe even another FileReader/FileWriter on the file somewhere else in your code. Also, when you're executing this inside an IDE, you'll risk that the IDE will touch the file during the background scan for modifications in the project's folder. Rather store the files in an absolute path outside the IDE's project.
Also, the code flow of opening and closing the files has to be modified so that the close is performed in the finally block. The idiom is like this:
Reader reader = null;
try {
reader = new SomeReader(file);
// ...
} finally {
if (reader != null) try { reader.close(); } catch (IOException logOrIgnore) {}
}
Or, if you're already on Java 7, use the automatic resource management instead.
try (Reader reader = new SomeReader(file)) {
// ...
}
Further I recommend to use File#createTempFile() instead to create temp files. This way an unique temp filename will be generated and thus you prevent the very same temp file being written and renamed by multiple processes.
File tempFile = File.createTempFile("nexLog", ".txt");
Does BufferedReader close the nested reader (not mentioned in the doc)? You have to make sure, by checking if setWritable was successful.Otherwise you need to close FileReader too, and I would recommend because in case you close it twice there is no harm... by the way GC call is more harmful than useful.

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