Adding a single forward slash or double backward slash to directory path in java

Question

I am using JFileChooser to get a directory path in a project of mine. It is working perfectly, but there is a little problem. Suppose this is the directory structure:

->Home
  ->Documents
    ->Java

This is the code:

JFileChooser fileChooser=new JFileChooser();
        fileChooser.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.DIRECTORIES_ONLY);
        int userSelection=fileChooser.showSaveDialog(this);
        if(userSelection==JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION){
            try{File fileTosave=fileChooser.getSelectedFile();
                File newFile=new File(fileTosave.getAbsolutePath()+"satish.txt");
                System.out.println(newFile);
                this.dispose();}
            catch(Exception e){}
        }

If currently i am inside the java folder, it gives me the path Home/Documents/Java(or Home:\Documents\Java) in windows. What I want is that it should return the path which includes single forward slash or double forward slash (according to plaform) such that it looks like Home/Documents/Java/. I want to do this because later I have to append a file name to this path such that file path becomes Home/Documents/java/file.txt.

Any Idea on how to do this?

I don't want to add slashes manually because then I would also have to keep the platform in mind.

Thank you!

Does this answer your question? [Path delimiter in windows and linux for java code](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44250017/path-delimiter-in-windows-and-linux-for-java-code) — Tom, May 02 '20 at 16:49

QuickSilver · Accepted Answer · 2020-05-02T16:48:12.607

1

Use java.io.File.pathSeparator

/**
     * The system-dependent path-separator character, represented as a string
     * for convenience.  This string contains a single character, namely
     * <code>{@link #pathSeparatorChar}</code>.
     */
    public static final String pathSeparator = "" + pathSeparatorChar;

Your code should look like

JFileChooser fileChooser=new JFileChooser();
        fileChooser.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.DIRECTORIES_ONLY);
        int userSelection=fileChooser.showSaveDialog(this);
        if(userSelection==JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION){
            try{File fileTosave=fileChooser.getSelectedFile();
                File newFile=new File(fileTosave.getParent() + File.separator +"satish.txt");
                System.out.println(newFile);
                this.dispose();}
            catch(Exception e){}
        }

edited May 02 '20 at 16:48

answered May 02 '20 at 16:40

QuickSilver

3,915
2
13
29

Would it work both on windows and Unix well? – Vipul Tyagi May 02 '20 at 16:42
let me know if it works – QuickSilver May 02 '20 at 16:48
I don't have access to windows but it is working indeed on Ubuntu – Vipul Tyagi May 02 '20 at 16:49
`File newFile = new File(fileToSave, "satish.txt");` would produce a correct file path/name for any platform. – Andrew Thompson Feb 07 '21 at 06:39

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 02 '20 at 16:40

Java doesn't provide a method or strategy to convert file paths as Strings to the format for different OS's out of the box. You would need to either write your own method to do this or take advantage of a library that has already solved this for you.

For example, you can use Apache Commons IO to solve this, using the method:

FilenameUtils.separatorsToSystem(String path)

Adding a single forward slash or double backward slash to directory path in java

2 Answers2