How come PrintWriter creates a file sometimes but it doesnt create a file other times?

Question

Sometimes PrintWriter makes the file for me automatically. Is there any way it can work all the time? I have no clue why it doesnt work every time. Here is my code.

    String fileName = date + "-" + title;

    //Write to file
    try(PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(fileName, "UTF-8"))
    {
        writer.println(articleURL);
        writer.println(body + "\n");
        for(String link: links)
        {
            writer.println(link + ",");
        }
        writer.close();
    }
    catch(Exception e)
    {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

This is the error I get when trying to download a specific file

java.io.FileNotFoundException: 20160423-California's next senator could be a Latina. Will her past mistakes get in the way? - LA Times (The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect)
at java.io.FileOutputStream.open0(Native Method)
at java.io.FileOutputStream.open(FileOutputStream.java:270)
at java.io.FileOutputStream.<init>(FileOutputStream.java:213)
at java.io.FileOutputStream.<init>(FileOutputStream.java:162)
at java.io.PrintWriter.<init>(PrintWriter.java:192)
at java.io.PrintWriter.<init>(PrintWriter.java:232)
at TextFromArticleCreator.writeToFile(TextFromArticleCreator.java:48)
at NewsCrawler.write(NewsCrawler.java:90)
at NewsCrawler.Scrape(NewsCrawler.java:56)
at GUI.lambda$start$0(GUI.java:35)
at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventHandler.dispatchBubblingEvent(CompositeEventHandler.java:86)
at com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(EventHandlerManager.java:238)
at com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(EventHandlerManager.java:191)
at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventDispatcher.dispatchBubblingEvent(CompositeEventDispatcher.java:59)
at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:58)
at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56)
at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56)
at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
at com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEventImpl(EventUtil.java:74)
at com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEvent(EventUtil.java:49)
at javafx.event.Event.fireEvent(Event.java:198)
at javafx.scene.Node.fireEvent(Node.java:8411)
at javafx.scene.control.Button.fire(Button.java:185)
at com.sun.javafx.scene.control.behavior.ButtonBehavior.mouseReleased(ButtonBehavior.java:182)
at com.sun.javafx.scene.control.skin.BehaviorSkinBase$1.handle(BehaviorSkinBase.java:96)
at com.sun.javafx.scene.control.skin.BehaviorSkinBase$1.handle(BehaviorSkinBase.java:89)
at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventHandler$NormalEventHandlerRecord.handleBubblingEvent(CompositeEventHandler.java:218)
at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventHandler.dispatchBubblingEvent(CompositeEventHandler.java:80)
at com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(EventHandlerManager.java:238)
at com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(EventHandlerManager.java:191)
at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventDispatcher.dispatchBubblingEvent(CompositeEventDispatcher.java:59)
at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:58)
at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56)
at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56)
at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
at com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEventImpl(EventUtil.java:74)
at com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEvent(EventUtil.java:54)
at javafx.event.Event.fireEvent(Event.java:198)
at javafx.scene.Scene$MouseHandler.process(Scene.java:3757)
at javafx.scene.Scene$MouseHandler.access$1500(Scene.java:3485)
at javafx.scene.Scene.impl_processMouseEvent(Scene.java:1762)
at javafx.scene.Scene$ScenePeerListener.mouseEvent(Scene.java:2494)
at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler$MouseEventNotification.run(GlassViewEventHandler.java:352)
at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler$MouseEventNotification.run(GlassViewEventHandler.java:275)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler.lambda$handleMouseEvent$355(GlassViewEventHandler.java:388)
at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.QuantumToolkit.runWithoutRenderLock(QuantumToolkit.java:389)
at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler.handleMouseEvent(GlassViewEventHandler.java:387)
at com.sun.glass.ui.View.handleMouseEvent(View.java:555)
at com.sun.glass.ui.View.notifyMouse(View.java:937)
at com.sun.glass.ui.win.WinApplication._runLoop(Native Method)
at com.sun.glass.ui.win.WinApplication.lambda$null$149(WinApplication.java:191)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

To work out why it cannot create a file, you would need to read the error message you are printing at the end. If you are not getting an error, it is creating the file, even if it is not where you imagined it would be. — Peter Lawrey, Apr 23 '16 at 08:18
Yah just realized I didnt give you guys the error. It works for almost everything except this one specific one — Ajackster, Apr 23 '16 at 08:19
There is almost 2000 results for this error message on stackoverflow alone. You can't have a `'` in a file name. — Peter Lawrey, Apr 23 '16 at 08:20
The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect — Henry, Apr 23 '16 at 08:20

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 23 '16 at 08:22

0

The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect

This means you can't have a ' or ? in a file name.

Note: I tried to find a duplicate in the almost 2000 hits for this error on stackoverflow but couldn't find an exact match.

answered Apr 23 '16 at 08:22

Peter Lawrey

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The allowed file name syntax depends on the OS. – Henry Apr 23 '16 at 08:27

How come PrintWriter creates a file sometimes but it doesnt create a file other times?

1 Answers1