Java File I/O

In order to read/ write into or from files java provides basically three ways 

1. Reading /Writing bytes
2. Reading/ Writing Characters
3. Reading/ Writing Primitive data

Reading / Writing Bytes: Java provides FileInputStream and FileOutputStream to read/ write bytes from or into the files.

FileInputStream:

 It is a byte input stream derived from InputStream used to read from disk file in form of bytes.

Constructors: 

FileInputStream (String filename):  constructs a FileInputStream object using the file name given as String.

FileInputStream (File filename):  constructs a FileInputStream object using the file name given as File object.

 

Eg:

String    file=”Sample.txt”;

FileInputStream    fis=new FileInputStream (file);

int  ch;

while((ch=fis.read())!=-1)

System.out.print((char)ch);

fis.close();

FileOutputStream:

It is a byte output stream derived from OutputStream used to write data to a disk file in form of bytes.

Constructor: 

FileOutputStream (String filename):  constructs a FileOutputStream object using the file name given as String.

FileOutputStream (File filename):  constructs a FileOutputStream object using the file name given as File object.

Eg: 

String    file=”Sample.txt”;

FileOutputStream    fos=new FileOutputStream (file);

byte   b[]=”This is a sample program”.getBytes();

for(int i=0;i<b.length;i++)

fos.write(b[i]);

fos.close();

Note: The FileInputStream and FileOutputStream throw two checked exceptions namely FileNotFoundException and IOException. 

Reading / Writing Characters:

Java provides FileReader and FileWriter to read/ write characters from or into the files.

FileReader:

 It is a character input stream derived from Reader used to read from disk file in form of characters.

Constructors: 

FileReader (String filename):  constructs a FileReader object using the file name given as String.

FileReader (File filename):  constructs a FileReader object using the file name given as File object.

Eg:

String    file=”Sample.txt”;

FileReader    fr=new FileReader (file);

int  ch;

while((ch=fr.read())!=-1)

System.out.print((char)ch);

fr.close();

FileWriter:

It is a character output stream derived from Writer used to write data to a disk file in form of characters.

Constructors: 

FileWriter (String filename):  constructs a FileWriter object using the file name given as String.

FileWriter (File filename):  constructs a FileWriter object using the file name given as File object.

Eg:  

String    file=”Sample.txt”;

FileWriter fw=new FileWriter (file);

char   c[]=”This is a sample program”.toCharArray();

for(int i=0;i<c.length;i++)

fw.write(c[i]);

fw.close();

Note: The FileReader and FileWriter throw two checked exceptions namely FileNotFoundException and IOException. 

Reading / Writing Primitive data types:

                Java provides DataInputStream and DataOutputStream inorder to read or write primitive data from or into the Files.

DataInputStream:

                It is a byte filter stream which is used to read data in required format. It requires a node stream to process.

Constructors:

DataInputStream(InputStream is): creates a DataInputStream object for the specified byte input stream.

DataInputStream provides methods to read required format of the data from an output stream

Method	Description
int read(byte[] b)	It is used to read the number of bytes from the input stream.
int read(byte[] b, int off, int len)	It is used to read len bytes of data from the input stream.
int readInt()	It is used to read input bytes and return an int value.
byte readByte()	It is used to read and return the one input byte.
char readChar()	It is used to read two input bytes and returns a char value.
double readDouble()	It is used to read eight input bytes and returns a double value.
boolean readBoolean()	It is used to read one input byte and return true if byte is non zero, false if byte is zero.
int skipBytes(int x)	It is used to skip over x bytes of data from the input stream.
String readUTF()	It is used to read a string that has been encoded using the UTF-8 format.
void readFully(byte[] b)	It is used to read bytes from the input stream and store them into the buffer array.
void readFully(byte[] b, int off, int len)	It is used to read len bytes from the input stream.

Eg:          String    file=”StudentDetails.txt”;

FileInputStream    fis=new FileInputStream (file);

DataInputStream  dis=new  DataInputStream(fis);

                int   rNo=dis.readInt();

                String  name=dis.readLine();

                float  marks=dis.readFloat();

                dis.close();

                fis.close():

DataOutputStream:

                It is a byte filter stream which is used to read data in required format. It requires a node stream to process.

Constructors:

DataOutputStream(OutputStream is): creates a DataOutputStream object for the specified byte input stream.

DataOutputStream provides methods to write required format of the data to an output stream

Method	Description
int size()	It is used to return the number of bytes written to the data output stream.
void write(int b)	It is used to write the specified byte to the underlying output stream.
void write(byte[] b, int off, int len)	It is used to write len bytes of data to the output stream.
void writeBoolean(boolean v)	It is used to write Boolean to the output stream as a 1-byte value.
void writeChar(int v)	It is used to write char to the output stream as a 2-byte value.
void writeChars(String s)	It is used to write string to the output stream as a sequence of characters.
void writeByte(int v)	It is used to write a byte to the output stream as a 1-byte value.
void writeBytes(String s)	It is used to write string to the output stream as a sequence of bytes.
void writeInt(int v)	It is used to write an int to the output stream
void writeShort(int v)	It is used to write a short to the output stream.
void writeShort(int v)	It is used to write a short to the output stream.

Eg:         

         String    file=”StudentDetails.txt”;

FileOutputStream    fos=new FileOutputStream (file);

DataOutputStream  dis=new  DataOutputStream(fos);

                int   rNo =1234;

                String  name=”ramu”;

                float  marks=789F;

                dos.writeInt(rNo);

                dos.writeChars(name);

                dos.writeFloat(marks);

                dis.close();

                fis.close():