How to rename a file in JAVA ?

[Vicky Mohan]

Hey All,

I have a file that i process for some business data.

Once i process the data, i need to rename the file and place it in a specific directory ( i create the directory during the process).

I create a new directory ( if it does not exist) and also create a new temp file (empty file) File.createTempFile(fileName, fileFormat, dir) .

Now, i am trying to rename the existing file to this new destination.

somehow, this operation always fails and a value of false is returned.

Any help wil be appreciated

[Keith Lynn]

Have you released any FileReader associated with the file?

[Vicky Mohan]

FileInputStream input = new FileInputStream("file");
BufferedReader fileReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(input));

///// PROCESSING /////////


File destFile = new File("newfilePath");
boolean flag = file.renameTo(destFile);

DO you mean to say that i need to close the fileReader ??

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

Originally posted by Raj Verma:

DO you mean to say that i need to close the fileReader ??

On Windows, yes, indeed.

Note, also, that renameTo() will work only within a single filesystem (disk). To "rename" a file across disks, you need to copy the contents and delete the old file. It's a good idea to try renameTo(), then do copy/delete as a backup.