Files--simple doubt

[Jenny raj]

String dirName="c:/java";
File f=new File(dirName,"Work.txt");


what does the above line do?
does it create a new file name work.txt in a specified directory c:/java

[Nigel Browne]

The way to find your answer is to look up the Javadocs for the class File, find the constructor that takes two strings as its parameters and then read the descriptive text.Javadocs link

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

The File class probably should be named "Path" or "FilePath". Creating a java.io.File doesn't create a file -- it creates a path that could refer to a file. Yes, this File object will refer to the file "C:\java\work.txt". The file doesn't necessarily exist unless you force it to exist -- for example, by opening and closing a FileOutputStream with it (which would create a zero-length file

FileOutputStream os = new FileOutputStream(f);
os.close();

Of course, this would destroy the file if it already existed; you could test for this using f.exists().
[ June 27, 2006: Message edited by: Ernest Friedman-Hill ]

[Jenny raj]

Hi ernest
your explanation is very clear,thank u

[Vladimir Nesov]

Note that the whole point of File is abstraction of system-specific path naming rules, so don't do things like new File("C:\my_folder"). Such things should be outside the code.