IllegalArgumentException: File contains a path separator Android

Question

I'm trying to write to an output file on my HTC One and get the following message in the LogCat:

11-21 08:05:18.228: W/System.err(6609): java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: File /storage/emulated/0/com.example.pattern1/myfile.txt contains a path separator

The source code is given below:

    protected void writeToFile(String string){

    File patternDirectory = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath().toString()+"/com.example.pattern1/myfile.txt");
    patternDirectory.mkdirs();

    FileOutputStream outputStream;

    try {
      outputStream = openFileOutput(patternDirectory.getAbsolutePath().toString(), Context.MODE_APPEND);
      outputStream.write(string.getBytes());
      TextView t = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.bottomMidText);
      t.setText(patternDirectory.getAbsolutePath().toString());
      outputStream.close();

    } catch (Exception e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    }

I would appreciate if someone can help identify the problem.

possible duplicate of [java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: contains a path separator](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5963535/java-lang-illegalargumentexception-contains-a-path-separator) — timrau, Nov 21 '14 at 03:17
@timrau Your link is the input case, this is about output. Minor, I know. — William T. Mallard, Oct 26 '16 at 19:33

score 19 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 21 '14 at 05:00

19

The openFileInput method will not accept path separators.('/')

it accepts only the name of the file which you want to open/access. so change the statement

outputStream = openFileOutput(patternDirectory.getAbsolutePath().toString(), Context.MODE_APPEND);

to

outputStream = new FileOutputStream (new File(patternDirectory.getAbsolutePath().toString()), true); // true will be same as Context.MODE_APPEND

answered Nov 21 '14 at 05:00

Blue_Alien

2,148
2
25
29

5

Thanks for this answer. I'm not sure how I would've gotten to this answer if you had not posted it. I couldn't save to my file located in internal files directory (getFilesDir()) otherwise. I'm confused why the supposedly Google-documented way of using openFileOutput doesn't work. Very confusing of Google docs (http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Context.html#openFileOutput(java.lang.String, int) ). – raddevus Nov 10 '15 at 15:11

Ștefan Iulian · Answer 2 · 2017-04-07T08:59:59.343

1

One problem may be the fact that you do: Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath().toString()+"/com.example.pattern1/myfile.txt" You create a directory that has name myfile.txt

edited Apr 07 '17 at 08:59

answered Apr 07 '17 at 08:33

Ștefan Iulian

21
3

IllegalArgumentException: File contains a path separator Android

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