Java - BufferedWriter overwriting lines issue

Question

So I have a JFrame with a button that accesses this method to write a String to a text file:

 public static void writeTest(String item) {
    File file = new File (directory + "TestFile.txt");
        try {
            BufferedWriter out = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(file));
            out.write(item);
            out.newLine();
            out.close();
        } catch (IOException e) {

        }
   }

This part works fine, but if I click the button again, it will always write over the first line, even though I have the newLine(); there. I even tried putting newLine(); before AND after out.write(); , but it just replaces the first line of the file with a blank space, and then writes the 'item' String on the second line. I want it to write a line of String, save it in the text file, and when I write a new line, it ADDS a line of text to the file, not overwrite it.

possible duplicate of [BufferedWriter to write to file](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11543338/bufferedwriter-to-write-to-file) — Danny., Feb 27 '15 at 14:11
possible duplicate of [Java FileWriter with append mode](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1225146/java-filewriter-with-append-mode) — Kenster, Feb 27 '15 at 15:06

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 27 '15 at 14:07

3

Write file in append mode:

BufferedWriter out = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(file, true));

Here, new FileWriter(file, true), true is flag for append mode

answered Feb 27 '15 at 14:07

Thanks! This worked and I understand now for future reference. – David Feb 27 '15 at 14:14
@David, kindly accept the answer as it worked for you – Feb 27 '15 at 16:27
Haha sorry I couldn't figure out how to choose an answer for the life of me. Thanks again. – David Feb 27 '15 at 23:26

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 27 '15 at 14:03

0

Open FileWriter in append mode

answered Feb 27 '15 at 14:03

MGorgon

2,547
23
41

1

how it is done: `BufferedWriter out = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(file, true));` – user432 Feb 27 '15 at 14:04

Java - BufferedWriter overwriting lines issue

2 Answers2