Java - Inner classes

In this chapter, we will discuss inner classes of Java.

Nested Classes

In Java, just like methods, variables of a class too can have another class as its member. Writing a class within another is allowed in Java. The class written within is called the nested class, and the class that holds the inner class is called the outer class.
Syntax
Following is the syntax to write a nested class. Here, the class Outer_Demo is the outer class and the class Inner_Demo is the nested class.

class Outer_Demo {
   class Nested_Demo {
   }
}

Nested classes are divided into two types −

• Non-static nested classes − These are the non-static members of a class.
• Static nested classes − These are the static members of a class.

Inner Classes (Non-static Nested Classes)

Inner classes are a security mechanism in Java. We know a class cannot be associated with the access modifier private, but if we have the class as a member of other class, then the inner class can be made private. And this is also used to access the private members of a class.
Inner classes are of three types depending on how and where you define them. They are −

• Inner Class
• Method-local Inner Class
• Anonymous Inner Class

Inner Class

Creating an inner class is quite simple. You just need to write a class within a class. Unlike a class, an inner class can be private and once you declare an inner class private, it cannot be accessed from an object outside the class.
Following is the program to create an inner class and access it. In the given example, we make the inner class private and access the class through a method.
Example

class Outer_Demo {
   int num;
   
   // inner class
   private class Inner_Demo {
      public void print() {
         System.out.println("This is an inner class");
      }
   }
   
   // Accessing he inner class from the method within
   void display_Inner() {
      Inner_Demo inner = new Inner_Demo();
      inner.print();
   }
}
   
public class My_class {

   public static void main(String args[]) {
      // Instantiating the outer class 
      Outer_Demo outer = new Outer_Demo();
      
      // Accessing the display_Inner() method.
      outer.display_Inner();
   }
}

Here you can observe that Outer_Demo is the outer class, Inner_Demo is the inner class, display_Inner() is the method inside which we are instantiating the inner class, and this method is invoked from the main method.
If you compile and execute the above program, you will get the following result −
Output

This is an inner class.

Accessing the Private Members

As mentioned earlier, inner classes are also used to access the private members of a class. Suppose, a class is having private members to access them. Write an inner class in it, return the private members from a method within the inner class, say, getValue(), and finally from another class (from which you want to access the private members) call the getValue() method of the inner class.
To instantiate the inner class, initially you have to instantiate the outer class. Thereafter, using the object of the outer class, following is the way in which you can instantiate the inner class.

Outer_Demo outer = new Outer_Demo();
Outer_Demo.Inner_Demo inner = outer.new Inner_Demo();

The following program shows how to access the private members of a class using inner class.
Example

class Outer_Demo {
   // private variable of the outer class
   private int num = 175;  
   
   // inner class
   public class Inner_Demo {
      public int getNum() {
         System.out.println("This is the getnum method of the inner class");
         return num;
      }
   }
}

public class My_class2 {

   public static void main(String args[]) {
      // Instantiating the outer class
      Outer_Demo outer = new Outer_Demo();
      
      // Instantiating the inner class
      Outer_Demo.Inner_Demo inner = outer.new Inner_Demo();
      System.out.println(inner.getNum());
   }
}

If you compile and execute the above program, you will get the following result −
Output

The value of num in the class Test is: 175

Method-local Inner Class

In Java, we can write a class within a method and this will be a local type. Like local variables, the scope of the inner class is restricted within the method.
A method-local inner class can be instantiated only within the method where the inner class is defined. The following program shows how to use a method-local inner class.
Example

public class Outerclass {
   // instance method of the outer class 
   void my_Method() {
      int num = 23;

      // method-local inner class
      class MethodInner_Demo {
         public void print() {
            System.out.println("This is method inner class "+num);    
         }   
      } // end of inner class
    
      // Accessing the inner class
      MethodInner_Demo inner = new MethodInner_Demo();
      inner.print();
   }
   
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      Outerclass outer = new Outerclass();
      outer.my_Method();        
   }
}

If you compile and execute the above program, you will get the following result −
Output

This is method inner class 23

Anonymous Inner Class

An inner class declared without a class name is known as an anonymous inner class. In case of anonymous inner classes, we declare and instantiate them at the same time. Generally, they are used whenever you need to override the method of a class or an interface. The syntax of an anonymous inner class is as follows −
Syntax

AnonymousInner an_inner = new AnonymousInner() {
   public void my_method() {
      ........
      ........
   }   
};

The following program shows how to override the method of a class using anonymous inner class.
Example

abstract class AnonymousInner {
   public abstract void mymethod();
}

public class Outer_class {

   public static void main(String args[]) {
      AnonymousInner inner = new AnonymousInner() {
         public void mymethod() {
            System.out.println("This is an example of anonymous inner class");
         }
      };
      inner.mymethod(); 
   }
}

If you compile and execute the above program, you will get the following result −
Output

This is an example of anonymous inner class

In the same way, you can override the methods of the concrete class as well as the interface using an anonymous inner class.

Anonymous Inner Class as Argument

Generally, if a method accepts an object of an interface, an abstract class, or a concrete class, then we can implement the interface, extend the abstract class, and pass the object to the method. If it is a class, then we can directly pass it to the method.
But in all the three cases, you can pass an anonymous inner class to the method. Here is the syntax of passing an anonymous inner class as a method argument −

obj.my_Method(new My_Class() {
   public void Do() {
      .....
      .....
   }
});

The following program shows how to pass an anonymous inner class as a method argument.
Example

// interface
interface Message {
   String greet();
}

public class My_class {
   // method which accepts the object of interface Message
   public void displayMessage(Message m) {
      System.out.println(m.greet() +
         ", This is an example of anonymous inner class as an argument");  
   }

   public static void main(String args[]) {
      // Instantiating the class
      My_class obj = new My_class();

      // Passing an anonymous inner class as an argument
      obj.displayMessage(new Message() {
         public String greet() {
            return "Hello";
         }
      });
   }
}

If you compile and execute the above program, it gives you the following result −
Output

Hello This is an example of anonymous inner class as an argument

Static Nested Class

A static inner class is a nested class which is a static member of the outer class. It can be accessed without instantiating the outer class, using other static members. Just like static members, a static nested class does not have access to the instance variables and methods of the outer class. The syntax of static nested class is as follows −
Syntax

class MyOuter {
   static class Nested_Demo {
   }
}

Instantiating a static nested class is a bit different from instantiating an inner class. The following program shows how to use a static nested class.
Example

public class Outer {
   static class Nested_Demo {
      public void my_method() {
         System.out.println("This is my nested class");
      }
   }
   
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      Outer.Nested_Demo nested = new Outer.Nested_Demo();  
      nested.my_method();
   }
}

If you compile and execute the above program, you will get the following result −
Output

This is my nested class

Java - Exceptions

An exception (or exceptional event) is a problem that arises during the execution of a program. When an Exception occurs the normal flow of the program is disrupted and the program/Application terminates abnormally, which is not recommended, therefore, these exceptions are to be handled.
An exception can occur for many different reasons. Following are some scenarios where an exception occurs.

• A user has entered an invalid data.
• A file that needs to be opened cannot be found.
• A network connection has been lost in the middle of communications or the JVM has run out of memory.

Some of these exceptions are caused by user error, others by programmer error, and others by physical resources that have failed in some manner.
Based on these, we have three categories of Exceptions. You need to understand them to know how exception handling works in Java.

• Checked exceptions − A checked exception is an exception that occurs at the compile time, these are also called as compile time exceptions. These exceptions cannot simply be ignored at the time of compilation, the programmer should take care of (handle) these exceptions.

For example, if you use FileReader class in your program to read data from a file, if the file specified in its constructor doesn't exist, then a FileNotFoundException occurs, and the compiler prompts the programmer to handle the exception.

Example

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileReader;

public class FilenotFound_Demo {

   public static void main(String args[]) {  
      File file = new File("E://file.txt");
      FileReader fr = new FileReader(file); 
   }
}

If you try to compile the above program, you will get the following exceptions.

Output

C:\>javac FilenotFound_Demo.java
FilenotFound_Demo.java:8: error: unreported exception FileNotFoundException; must be caught or declared to be thrown
      FileReader fr = new FileReader(file);
                      ^
1 error

Note − Since the methods read() and close() of FileReader class throws IOException, you can observe that the compiler notifies to handle IOException, along with FileNotFoundException.

• Unchecked exceptions − An unchecked exception is an exception that occurs at the time of execution. These are also called as Runtime Exceptions. These include programming bugs, such as logic errors or improper use of an API. Runtime exceptions are ignored at the time of compilation.

For example, if you have declared an array of size 5 in your program, and trying to call the 6^th element of the array then an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsExceptionexception occurs.

Example

public class Unchecked_Demo {
   
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      int num[] = {1, 2, 3, 4};
      System.out.println(num[5]);
   }
}

If you compile and execute the above program, you will get the following exception.

Output

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 5
 at Exceptions.Unchecked_Demo.main(Unchecked_Demo.java:8)

• Errors − These are not exceptions at all, but problems that arise beyond the control of the user or the programmer. Errors are typically ignored in your code because you can rarely do anything about an error. For example, if a stack overflow occurs, an error will arise. They are also ignored at the time of compilation.

Exception Hierarchy

All exception classes are subtypes of the java.lang.Exception class. The exception class is a subclass of the Throwable class. Other than the exception class there is another subclass called Error which is derived from the Throwable class.
Errors are abnormal conditions that happen in case of severe failures, these are not handled by the Java programs. Errors are generated to indicate errors generated by the runtime environment. Example: JVM is out of memory. Normally, programs cannot recover from errors.
The Exception class has two main subclasses: IOException class and RuntimeException Class.
Following is a list of most common checked and unchecked Java's Built-in Exceptions.

Exceptions Methods

Following is the list of important methods available in the Throwable class.

Sr.No.	Method & Description
1	public String getMessage() Returns a detailed message about the exception that has occurred. This message is initialized in the Throwable constructor.
2	public Throwable getCause() Returns the cause of the exception as represented by a Throwable object.
3	public String toString() Returns the name of the class concatenated with the result of getMessage().
4	public void printStackTrace() Prints the result of toString() along with the stack trace to System.err, the error output stream.
5	public StackTraceElement [] getStackTrace() Returns an array containing each element on the stack trace. The element at index 0 represents the top of the call stack, and the last element in the array represents the method at the bottom of the call stack.
6	public Throwable fillInStackTrace() Fills the stack trace of this Throwable object with the current stack trace, adding to any previous information in the stack trace.

Catching Exceptions

A method catches an exception using a combination of the try and catch keywords. A try/catch block is placed around the code that might generate an exception. Code within a try/catch block is referred to as protected code, and the syntax for using try/catch looks like the following −

Syntax

try {
   // Protected code
}catch(ExceptionName e1) {
   // Catch block
}

The code which is prone to exceptions is placed in the try block. When an exception occurs, that exception occurred is handled by catch block associated with it. Every try block should be immediately followed either by a catch block or finally block.
A catch statement involves declaring the type of exception you are trying to catch. If an exception occurs in protected code, the catch block (or blocks) that follows the try is checked. If the type of exception that occurred is listed in a catch block, the exception is passed to the catch block much as an argument is passed into a method parameter.

Example

The following is an array declared with 2 elements. Then the code tries to access the 3^rd element of the array which throws an exception.

// File Name : ExcepTest.java
import java.io.*;

public class ExcepTest {

   public static void main(String args[]) {
      try {
         int a[] = new int[2];
         System.out.println("Access element three :" + a[3]);
      }catch(ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
         System.out.println("Exception thrown  :" + e);
      }
      System.out.println("Out of the block");
   }
}

This will produce the following result −

Output

Exception thrown  :java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 3
Out of the block

Multiple Catch Blocks

A try block can be followed by multiple catch blocks. The syntax for multiple catch blocks looks like the following −

Syntax

try {
   // Protected code
}catch(ExceptionType1 e1) {
   // Catch block
}catch(ExceptionType2 e2) {
   // Catch block
}catch(ExceptionType3 e3) {
   // Catch block
}

The previous statements demonstrate three catch blocks, but you can have any number of them after a single try. If an exception occurs in the protected code, the exception is thrown to the first catch block in the list. If the data type of the exception thrown matches ExceptionType1, it gets caught there. If not, the exception passes down to the second catch statement. This continues until the exception either is caught or falls through all catches, in which case the current method stops execution and the exception is thrown down to the previous method on the call stack.

Example

Here is code segment showing how to use multiple try/catch statements.

try {
   file = new FileInputStream(fileName);
   x = (byte) file.read();
}catch(IOException i) {
   i.printStackTrace();
   return -1;
}catch(FileNotFoundException f) // Not valid! {
   f.printStackTrace();
   return -1;
}

Catching Multiple Type of Exceptions

Since Java 7, you can handle more than one exception using a single catch block, this feature simplifies the code. Here is how you would do it −

catch (IOException|FileNotFoundException ex) {
   logger.log(ex);
   throw ex;

The Throws/Throw Keywords

If a method does not handle a checked exception, the method must declare it using the throws keyword. The throws keyword appears at the end of a method's signature.
You can throw an exception, either a newly instantiated one or an exception that you just caught, by using the throw keyword.
Try to understand the difference between throws and throw keywords, throws is used to postpone the handling of a checked exception and throw is used to invoke an exception explicitly.
The following method declares that it throws a RemoteException −

Example

import java.io.*;
public class className {

   public void deposit(double amount) throws RemoteException {
      // Method implementation
      throw new RemoteException();
   }
   // Remainder of class definition
}

A method can declare that it throws more than one exception, in which case the exceptions are declared in a list separated by commas. For example, the following method declares that it throws a RemoteException and an InsufficientFundsException −

Example

import java.io.*;
public class className {

   public void withdraw(double amount) throws RemoteException, 
      InsufficientFundsException {
      // Method implementation
   }
   // Remainder of class definition
}

The Finally Block

The finally block follows a try block or a catch block. A finally block of code always executes, irrespective of occurrence of an Exception.
Using a finally block allows you to run any cleanup-type statements that you want to execute, no matter what happens in the protected code.
A finally block appears at the end of the catch blocks and has the following syntax −

Syntax

try {
   // Protected code
}catch(ExceptionType1 e1) {
   // Catch block
}catch(ExceptionType2 e2) {
   // Catch block
}catch(ExceptionType3 e3) {
   // Catch block
}finally {
   // The finally block always executes.
}

Example

public class ExcepTest {

   public static void main(String args[]) {
      int a[] = new int[2];
      try {
         System.out.println("Access element three :" + a[3]);
      }catch(ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
         System.out.println("Exception thrown  :" + e);
      }finally {
         a[0] = 6;
         System.out.println("First element value: " + a[0]);
         System.out.println("The finally statement is executed");
      }
   }
}

This will produce the following result −

Output

Exception thrown  :java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 3
First element value: 6
The finally statement is executed

Note the following −

• A catch clause cannot exist without a try statement.
• It is not compulsory to have finally clauses whenever a try/catch block is present.
• The try block cannot be present without either catch clause or finally clause.
• Any code cannot be present in between the try, catch, finally blocks.

The try-with-resources

Generally, when we use any resources like streams, connections, etc. we have to close them explicitly using finally block. In the following program, we are reading data from a file using FileReader and we are closing it using finally block.

Example

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.IOException;

public class ReadData_Demo {

   public static void main(String args[]) {
      FileReader fr = null;  
      try {
         File file = new File("file.txt");
         fr = new FileReader(file); char [] a = new char[50];
         fr.read(a);   // reads the content to the array
         for(char c : a)
         System.out.print(c);   // prints the characters one by one
      }catch(IOException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      }finally {
         try {
            fr.close();
         }catch(IOException ex) {  
            ex.printStackTrace();
         }
      }
   }
}

try-with-resources, also referred as automatic resource management, is a new exception handling mechanism that was introduced in Java 7, which automatically closes the resources used within the try catch block.
To use this statement, you simply need to declare the required resources within the parenthesis, and the created resource will be closed automatically at the end of the block. Following is the syntax of try-with-resources statement.

Syntax

try(FileReader fr = new FileReader("file path")) {
   // use the resource
   }catch() {
      // body of catch 
   }
}

Following is the program that reads the data in a file using try-with-resources statement.

Example

import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.IOException;

public class Try_withDemo {

   public static void main(String args[]) {
      try(FileReader fr = new FileReader("E://file.txt")) {
         char [] a = new char[50];
         fr.read(a);   // reads the contentto the array
         for(char c : a)
         System.out.print(c);   // prints the characters one by one
      }catch(IOException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }
}

Following points are to be kept in mind while working with try-with-resources statement.

• To use a class with try-with-resources statement it should implement AutoCloseable interface and the close() method of it gets invoked automatically at runtime.
• You can declare more than one class in try-with-resources statement.
• While you declare multiple classes in the try block of try-with-resources statement these classes are closed in reverse order.
• Except the declaration of resources within the parenthesis everything is the same as normal try/catch block of a try block.
• The resource declared in try gets instantiated just before the start of the try-block.
• The resource declared at the try block is implicitly declared as final.

User-defined Exceptions

You can create your own exceptions in Java. Keep the following points in mind when writing your own exception classes −

• All exceptions must be a child of Throwable.
• If you want to write a checked exception that is automatically enforced by the Handle or Declare Rule, you need to extend the Exception class.
• If you want to write a runtime exception, you need to extend the RuntimeException class.

We can define our own Exception class as below −

class MyException extends Exception {
}

You just need to extend the predefined Exception class to create your own Exception. These are considered to be checked exceptions. The following InsufficientFundsException class is a user-defined exception that extends the Exception class, making it a checked exception. An exception class is like any other class, containing useful fields and methods.

Example

// File Name InsufficientFundsException.java
import java.io.*;

public class InsufficientFundsException extends Exception {
   private double amount;
   
   public InsufficientFundsException(double amount) {
      this.amount = amount;
   }
   
   public double getAmount() {
      return amount;
   }
}

To demonstrate using our user-defined exception, the following CheckingAccount class contains a withdraw() method that throws an InsufficientFundsException.

// File Name CheckingAccount.java
import java.io.*;

public class CheckingAccount {
   private double balance;
   private int number;
   
   public CheckingAccount(int number) {
      this.number = number;
   }
   
   public void deposit(double amount) {
      balance += amount;
   }
   
   public void withdraw(double amount) throws InsufficientFundsException {
      if(amount <= balance) {
         balance -= amount;
      }else {
         double needs = amount - balance;
         throw new InsufficientFundsException(needs);
      }
   }
   
   public double getBalance() {
      return balance;
   }
   
   public int getNumber() {
      return number;
   }
}

The following BankDemo program demonstrates invoking the deposit() and withdraw() methods of CheckingAccount.

// File Name BankDemo.java
public class BankDemo {

   public static void main(String [] args) {
      CheckingAccount c = new CheckingAccount(101);
      System.out.println("Depositing $500...");
      c.deposit(500.00);
      
      try {
         System.out.println("\nWithdrawing $100...");
         c.withdraw(100.00);
         System.out.println("\nWithdrawing $600...");
         c.withdraw(600.00);
      }catch(InsufficientFundsException e) {
         System.out.println("Sorry, but you are short $" + e.getAmount());
         e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }
}

Compile all the above three files and run BankDemo. This will produce the following result −

Output

Depositing $500...

Withdrawing $100...

Withdrawing $600...
Sorry, but you are short $200.0
InsufficientFundsException
         at CheckingAccount.withdraw(CheckingAccount.java:25)
         at BankDemo.main(BankDemo.java:13)

Common Exceptions

In Java, it is possible to define two catergories of Exceptions and Errors.

• JVM Exceptions − These are exceptions/errors that are exclusively or logically thrown by the JVM. Examples: NullPointerException, ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException, ClassCastException.
• Programmatic Exceptions − These exceptions are thrown explicitly by the application or the API programmers. Examples: IllegalArgumentException, IllegalStateException.

Java - Files and I/O

The java.io package contains nearly every class you might ever need to perform input and output (I/O) in Java. All these streams represent an input source and an output destination. The stream in the java.io package supports many data such as primitives, object, localized characters, etc.

Stream

A stream can be defined as a sequence of data. There are two kinds of Streams −

• InPutStream − The InputStream is used to read data from a source.
• OutPutStream − The OutputStream is used for writing data to a destination.

Java provides strong but flexible support for I/O related to files and networks but this tutorial covers very basic functionality related to streams and I/O. We will see the most commonly used examples one by one −

Byte Streams

Java byte streams are used to perform input and output of 8-bit bytes. Though there are many classes related to byte streams but the most frequently used classes are, FileInputStream and FileOutputStream. Following is an example which makes use of these two classes to copy an input file into an output file −
Example

import java.io.*;
public class CopyFile {

   public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException {  
      FileInputStream in = null;
      FileOutputStream out = null;

      try {
         in = new FileInputStream("input.txt");
         out = new FileOutputStream("output.txt");
         
         int c;
         while ((c = in.read()) != -1) {
            out.write(c);
         }
      }finally {
         if (in != null) {
            in.close();
         }
         if (out != null) {
            out.close();
         }
      }
   }
}

Now let's have a file input.txt with the following content −

This is test for copy file.

As a next step, compile the above program and execute it, which will result in creating output.txt file with the same content as we have in input.txt. So let's put the above code in CopyFile.java file and do the following −

$javac CopyFile.java
$java CopyFile

Character Streams

Java Byte streams are used to perform input and output of 8-bit bytes, whereas Java Character streams are used to perform input and output for 16-bit unicode. Though there are many classes related to character streams but the most frequently used classes are, FileReader and FileWriter. Though internally FileReader uses FileInputStream and FileWriter uses FileOutputStream but here the major difference is that FileReader reads two bytes at a time and FileWriter writes two bytes at a time.
We can re-write the above example, which makes the use of these two classes to copy an input file (having unicode characters) into an output file −
Example

import java.io.*;
public class CopyFile {

   public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException {
      FileReader in = null;
      FileWriter out = null;

      try {
         in = new FileReader("input.txt");
         out = new FileWriter("output.txt");
         
         int c;
         while ((c = in.read()) != -1) {
            out.write(c);
         }
      }finally {
         if (in != null) {
            in.close();
         }
         if (out != null) {
            out.close();
         }
      }
   }
}

Now let's have a file input.txt with the following content −

This is test for copy file.

As a next step, compile the above program and execute it, which will result in creating output.txt file with the same content as we have in input.txt. So let's put the above code in CopyFile.java file and do the following −

$javac CopyFile.java
$java CopyFile

Standard Streams

All the programming languages provide support for standard I/O where the user's program can take input from a keyboard and then produce an output on the computer screen. If you are aware of C or C++ programming languages, then you must be aware of three standard devices STDIN, STDOUT and STDERR. Similarly, Java provides the following three standard streams −

• Standard Input − This is used to feed the data to user's program and usually a keyboard is used as standard input stream and represented as System.in.
• Standard Output − This is used to output the data produced by the user's program and usually a computer screen is used for standard output stream and represented as System.out.
• Standard Error − This is used to output the error data produced by the user's program and usually a computer screen is used for standard error stream and represented as System.err.

Following is a simple program, which creates InputStreamReader to read standard input stream until the user types a "q" −
Example

import java.io.*;
public class ReadConsole {

   public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException {
      InputStreamReader cin = null;

      try {
         cin = new InputStreamReader(System.in);
         System.out.println("Enter characters, 'q' to quit.");
         char c;
         do {
            c = (char) cin.read();
            System.out.print(c);
         } while(c != 'q');
      }finally {
         if (cin != null) {
            cin.close();
         }
      }
   }
}

Let's keep the above code in ReadConsole.java file and try to compile and execute it as shown in the following program. This program continues to read and output the same character until we press 'q' −

$javac ReadConsole.java
$java ReadConsole
Enter characters, 'q' to quit.
1
1
e
e
q
q

Reading and Writing Files

As described earlier, a stream can be defined as a sequence of data. The InputStream is used to read data from a source and the OutputStream is used for writing data to a destination.
Here is a hierarchy of classes to deal with Input and Output streams.
The two important streams are FileInputStream and FileOutputStream, which would be discussed in this tutorial.

FileInputStream

This stream is used for reading data from the files. Objects can be created using the keyword new and there are several types of constructors available.
Following constructor takes a file name as a string to create an input stream object to read the file −

InputStream f = new FileInputStream("C:/java/hello");

Following constructor takes a file object to create an input stream object to read the file. First we create a file object using File() method as follows −

File f = new File("C:/java/hello");
InputStream f = new FileInputStream(f);

Once you have InputStream object in hand, then there is a list of helper methods which can be used to read to stream or to do other operations on the stream.

Sr.No.	Method & Description
1	public void close() throws IOException{} This method closes the file output stream. Releases any system resources associated with the file. Throws an IOException.
2	protected void finalize()throws IOException {} This method cleans up the connection to the file. Ensures that the close method of this file output stream is called when there are no more references to this stream. Throws an IOException.
3	public int read(int r)throws IOException{} This method reads the specified byte of data from the InputStream. Returns an int. Returns the next byte of data and -1 will be returned if it's the end of the file.
4	public int read(byte[] r) throws IOException{} This method reads r.length bytes from the input stream into an array. Returns the total number of bytes read. If it is the end of the file, -1 will be returned.
5	public int available() throws IOException{} Gives the number of bytes that can be read from this file input stream. Returns an int.

There are other important input streams available, for more detail you can refer to the following links −

• ByteArrayInputStream
• DataInputStream

FileOutputStream

FileOutputStream is used to create a file and write data into it. The stream would create a file, if it doesn't already exist, before opening it for output.
Here are two constructors which can be used to create a FileOutputStream object.
Following constructor takes a file name as a string to create an input stream object to write the file −

OutputStream f = new FileOutputStream("C:/java/hello") 

Following constructor takes a file object to create an output stream object to write the file. First, we create a file object using File() method as follows −

File f = new File("C:/java/hello");
OutputStream f = new FileOutputStream(f);

Once you have OutputStream object in hand, then there is a list of helper methods, which can be used to write to stream or to do other operations on the stream.

Sr.No.	Method & Description
1	public void close() throws IOException{} This method closes the file output stream. Releases any system resources associated with the file. Throws an IOException.
2	protected void finalize()throws IOException {} This method cleans up the connection to the file. Ensures that the close method of this file output stream is called when there are no more references to this stream. Throws an IOException.
3	public void write(int w)throws IOException{} This methods writes the specified byte to the output stream.
4	public void write(byte[] w) Writes w.length bytes from the mentioned byte array to the OutputStream.

There are other important output streams available, for more detail you can refer to the following links −

• ByteArrayOutputStream
• DataOutputStream

Example
Following is the example to demonstrate InputStream and OutputStream −

import java.io.*;
public class fileStreamTest {

   public static void main(String args[]) {
   
      try {
         byte bWrite [] = {11,21,3,40,5};
         OutputStream os = new FileOutputStream("test.txt");
         for(int x = 0; x < bWrite.length ; x++) {
            os.write( bWrite[x] );   // writes the bytes
         }
         os.close();
     
         InputStream is = new FileInputStream("test.txt");
         int size = is.available();

         for(int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
            System.out.print((char)is.read() + "  ");
         }
         is.close();
      }catch(IOException e) {
         System.out.print("Exception");
      } 
   }
}

The above code would create file test.txt and would write given numbers in binary format. Same would be the output on the stdout screen.

File Navigation and I/O

There are several other classes that we would be going through to get to know the basics of File Navigation and I/O.

• File Class
• FileReader Class
• FileWriter Class

Directories in Java

A directory is a File which can contain a list of other files and directories. You use File object to create directories, to list down files available in a directory. For complete detail, check a list of all the methods which you can call on File object and what are related to directories.

Creating Directories

There are two useful File utility methods, which can be used to create directories −

• The mkdir( ) method creates a directory, returning true on success and false on failure. Failure indicates that the path specified in the File object already exists, or that the directory cannot be created because the entire path does not exist yet.
• The mkdirs() method creates both a directory and all the parents of the directory.

Following example creates "/tmp/user/java/bin" directory −
Example

import java.io.File;
public class CreateDir {

   public static void main(String args[]) {
      String dirname = "/tmp/user/java/bin";
      File d = new File(dirname);
      
      // Create directory now.
      d.mkdirs();
   }
}

Compile and execute the above code to create "/tmp/user/java/bin".
Note − Java automatically takes care of path separators on UNIX and Windows as per conventions. If you use a forward slash (/) on a Windows version of Java, the path will still resolve correctly.

Listing Directories

You can use list( ) method provided by File object to list down all the files and directories available in a directory as follows −
Example

import java.io.File;
public class ReadDir {

   public static void main(String[] args) {
      File file = null;
      String[] paths;
  
      try {      
         // create new file object
         file = new File("/tmp");

         // array of files and directory
         paths = file.list();

         // for each name in the path array
         for(String path:paths) {
            // prints filename and directory name
            System.out.println(path);
         }
      }catch(Exception e) {
         // if any error occurs
         e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }
}

This will produce the following result based on the directories and files available in your /tmp directory −
Output

test1.txt
test2.txt
ReadDir.java
ReadDir.class