Closing stream connection explicitly??

[Vijay Kashyap]

Hi,
I have a question, if I am using a local FileInputStream object to open an input stream do I need to explicitly close it? I know its a good practice to do so, but is it really required to avoid leaving a socket connection hanging.

public void doSomeThing(){
//open file stream
FileInputStream fStr = ....;
//do somethign with this stream
//Do I need to close it or will JVM atke care of //it if I havn't done this
}

I think as the FileInputStream object cease to exist after the method call I can get away without closing the input stream , even though for sake of safety I am closing it before returning.
Please tell me whether the JVM will handle the close connection for me or I have to do it explicitly.
Regards,
Vijay

[Roy Ben Ami]

you have to close file streams. its not only a good practice but without it usually you wont get the wanted results.