Check if a path is a directory or a file

[Sebastian Janisch]

Hey,

I want to create a FileOutputStream from a String representation of a file on the disk.

Now, if the file does not exist, I want to create it, like so:

if (!resourceFile.exists())
            {
                resourceFile.mkdirs();
                resourceFile.createNewFile();
            }

return new FileOutputStream(resourceFile, append);

Also, the missing directory structure will be created.

My problem now is that when the caller passes a directory rather than a file such as '/root/dir/' the FileOutputStream cannot be created and throws an exception. The missing directories have been created, which I don't want.

So, how do I determine whether or not a file that doesnt exist yet is a directory or not?

thanks

[Jelle Klap]

Using java.io.File#isFile() / java.io.File#isDirectory() ?

Edit: Oh, which doesn't exist already, my bad...

[Sebastian Janisch]

that doesn't work if the file is not existing.

[Jelle Klap]

Sebastian Janisch wrote:that doesn't work if the file is not existing.

Yeah, I sort of only read the subject
Don't suppose a directory path could be assumed to always end neatly on a file separator character?

[David Newton]

So, how do I determine whether or not a file that doesnt exist yet is a directory or not?

That question makes no sense. A file that doesn't exist could be anything, including a device, a symlink, anything. Unless you can form the input in a consistent way what you're asking to do is impossible.

[Rob Spoor]

David Newton wrote:

So, how do I determine whether or not a file that doesnt exist yet is a directory or not?

That question makes no sense. A file that doesn't exist could be anything, including a device, a symlink, anything. Unless you can form the input in a consistent way what you're asking to do is impossible.

+1

Sebastian, you can have one little fix in your code that should at least remove any errors:

if (!resourceFile.exists())   
{   
    File parent = resourceFile.getParent();
    if (parent != null) parent.mkdirs();
    resourceFile.createNewFile();   
}

The parent folder will be created this way without creating a folder for the resource file itself.