get a file path

Question

Is there a way to get the full path for a file exists on the computer ? For example , I want to get the full path for a file in a folder on desktop

I tried using :

  File f = new File("help.chm");

  String f2=f.getAbsolutePath();
  f3=f3.replaceAll("\\\\","/" );
  System.out.println("Path:"+f3);

but it gave me the path of the project like this:

C:/Users/toshiba/Documents/NetBeansProjects/test/help.chm

although the file is not located there .

You are looking for `getCanonicalPath()`. See also http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1099300/whats-the-difference-between-getpath-getabsolutepath-and-getcanonicalpath By the way, the file is not check on existance. — tuergeist, Oct 15 '12 at 20:27
First you need to find the file, before you can get it's path. For your specific example you can get the desktop path using: `System.getProperty("user.home") + "/Desktop";` then you can search through folders on your desktop for a matching file name. Read here to learn how to search for files: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/io/find.html — sorifiend, Oct 15 '12 at 20:36

Rohit Jain · Answer 1 · 2012-10-15T20:35:00.103

If you create a file using new File("filename") which is the relative path, you cannot get the absolute path of the file using file.getAbsolutePath(), because the relative path is build according to the default user home directory or the JVM path.

Take a look at Java Doc: -

A pathname, whether abstract or in string form, may be either absolute or relative. An absolute pathname is complete in that no other information is required in order to locate the file that it denotes.

A relative pathname, in contrast, must be interpreted in terms of information taken from some other pathname. By default the classes in the java.io package always resolve relative pathnames against the current user directory. This directory is named by the system property user.dir, and is typically the directory in which the Java virtual machine was invoked.

So, to get the absolute path for this case, you would actually have to write the path yourself. Get the absolute path till the directory where you saved the file, and append the file name to it.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 15 '12 at 20:27

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A File is a representation of a file path, not necessarily an existent file on disk - ie the file doesn't have to exist on disk for a File object to be not null.

That's why there's the File.exists() method.

answered Oct 15 '12 at 20:27

Bohemian

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ok , but I want to get the correct path of the file , which is located on the desktop – Calm Sea Oct 15 '12 at 20:31

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 15 '12 at 20:30

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The path "help.chm" will be relative to the directory from which you started the JVM, which in your case appears to be C:/Users/toshiba/Documents/NetBeansProjects/test/

To get a path to the desktop, you need to use the absolute path of the desktop directory in Windows, which will be something along the lines of C:/Users/toshiba/Desktop/help.chm

answered Oct 15 '12 at 20:30

Zach Musgrave

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do you mean that I have to write the path ?? – Calm Sea Oct 15 '12 at 20:36

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 15 '12 at 20:42

Since the other answers do not cover your question, here is my comment:

To get a file's path, you first need to tell your java program where it is or how to find it.

For your specific example you can get the desktop path using: System.getProperty("user.home") + "/Desktop"; then you can search through folders on your desktop for a matching file name.

Read here to learn how to search for files: docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/io/find.html

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 15 '12 at 20:42

You are attempting to read the file from (default folder)

C:/Users/toshiba/Documents/NetBeansProjects/test/

File doesn't exist but the would-be-file's path will be

C:/Users/toshiba/Documents/NetBeansProjects/test/

If you read the file from where it really is:

File f = new File("C:/Users/toshiba/Desktop/help.chm");

You will see that exists() returns true.

 System.out.println(f.exists());

Then:

  String f2=f.getCanonicalPath();

get a file path

5 Answers5