Selecting a file in another directory for a bufferedReader

Question

I have an initialization file (initialize.java) that pulls in data from fileInput.txt using a fileInputStream, but both of them are in different directories.

Project/library/initialize.java
Project/resources/text/fileInput.txt

my code in initialize.java is:

FileInputStream fstream = new FileInputStream("/resources/text/fileInput.txt");

But the file cannot be read. I've also tried

FileInputStream fstream = new FileInputStream("./resources/text/fileInput.txt");

But that didn't work too.

How can I access the txt file and what's the difference between using "./resources" and "/resources"?

Thanks for reading this.

Thanks for all the help guys. I realized it was my big mistake but at least i learnt the "./" Directory stuff :) — puissant, Mar 13 '12 at 07:45

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 13 '12 at 07:33

6

The difference is huge. On linux/unix/macos the path starting with / starts from root directory. The path starting with ./ or without starting from current application directory. Call

System.out.println(new File("."). getAbsolutePath()) to check where you are?

answered Mar 13 '12 at 07:33

Andrzej Jozwik

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Silly me.. I did the absolute path thing and found out it was actually Project/src/library and i had to do a "new FileInputStream("src/resources/...") thank you!! – puissant Mar 13 '12 at 07:43
1

Maybe the problem is that resources is your root folder in resources. So try [InputStream in = ClassLoader.getResourceAsStream("/text/fileInput.txt")](http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/lang/ClassLoader.html#getResourceAsStream(java.lang.String)) or `InputStream in = ClassLoader.getResourceAsStream("text/fileInput.txt")`, I've never known :). Now the root is your classpath root. – Andrzej Jozwik Mar 13 '12 at 07:58

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 13 '12 at 07:30

2

FileInputStream fstream = new FileInputStream("resources/text/fileInput.txt");

Tried this?

answered Mar 13 '12 at 07:30

CoNgL3

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Juvanis · Answer 3 · 2012-03-13T07:42:17.507

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"./resources/text/fileInput.txt" or "resources/text/fileInput.txt" works, but "/resources/text/fileInput.txt" doesn't.

Note: This is valid if the folder named "resources" is located under the root directory of your project.

edited Mar 13 '12 at 07:42

answered Mar 13 '12 at 07:32

Juvanis

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score 1 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:44

As the other answers suggest, the path you pass to FileInputStream depends on the OS and also if the path is a relative or an absolute path. Another way of reading the file is to use Class.getResourceAsStream() instead. e.g.

InputStream is = this.getClass().getResourceAsStream("/resources/text/fileInput.txt")

For the above to work, you need to have the parent folder of /resources in the classpath. For more information on how getResourceAsStream works, see SO question

Selecting a file in another directory for a bufferedReader

4 Answers4

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