Java Streams, Files and I/O in java programming



Java Streams, 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.
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.

Byte-oriented 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 andFileOutputStream.
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.
InputStream f = new FileInputStream("D:/Test.txt ");
                              or
File f = new File("D:/Test.txt");
InputStream f = new FileInputStream(f);
Methods
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 end of 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 end of 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.

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.
OutputStream f = new FileOutputStream("D:/Test.txt") 
                              or
File f = new File("D:/Test.txt ");
OutputStream f = new FileOutputStream(f);

Methods
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.



Character-oriented Streams


File:
Java File class represents the files and directory pathnames in an abstract manner. This class is used for creation of files and directories, file searching, file deletion etc.
Constructors
File(File parent, String child);
File(String pathname) 
File(String parent, String child) 
File(URI uri) 
Methods
1 public String getName() Returns the name of the file or directory denoted by this abstract pathname.
2 public String getParent() Returns the pathname string of this abstract pathname's parent, or null if this pathname does not name a parent directory.
3 public File getParentFile() Returns the abstract pathname of this abstract pathname's parent, or null if this pathname does not name a parent directory.
4 public String getPath() Converts this abstract pathname into a pathname string.     
5 public boolean isAbsolute() Tests whether this abstract pathname is absolute. Returns true if this abstract pathname is absolute, false otherwise
6 public String getAbsolutePath() Returns the absolute pathname string of this abstract pathname.
7 public boolean canRead() Tests whether the application can read the file denoted by this abstract pathname. Returns true if and only if the file specified by this abstract pathname exists and can be read by the application; false otherwise.
8 public boolean canWrite() Tests whether the application can modify to the file denoted by this abstract pathname. Returns true if and only if the file system actually contains a file denoted by this abstract pathname and the application is allowed to write to the file; false otherwise.
9 public boolean exists() Tests whether the file or directory denoted by this abstract pathname exists. Returns true if and only if the file or directory denoted by this abstract pathname exists; false otherwise
10 public boolean isDirectory() Tests whether the file denoted by this abstract pathname is a directory. Returns true if and only if the file denoted by this abstract pathname exists and is a directory; false otherwise.
11 public boolean isFile() Tests whether the file denoted by this abstract pathname is a normal file.
12 public long lastModified() Returns the time that the file denoted by this abstract pathname was last modified. 13
13 public long length() Returns the length of the file denoted by this abstract pathname. The return value is unspecified if this pathname denotes a directory.
14 public boolean createNewFile() throws IOException Atomically creates a new, empty file named by this abstract pathname if and only if a file with this name does not yet exist. Returns true if the named file does not exist and was successfully created; false if the named file already exists.
15 public boolean delete() Deletes the file or directory denoted by this abstract pathname. If this pathname denotes a directory, then the directory must be empty in order to be deleted. Returns true if and only if the file or directory is successfully deleted; false otherwise.
16 public void deleteOnExit() Requests that the file or directory denoted by this abstract pathname be deleted when the virtual machine terminates.
17 public String[] list() Returns an array of strings naming the files and directories in the directory denoted by this abstract pathname.
18 public String[] list(FilenameFilter filter) Returns an array of strings naming the files and directories in the directory denoted by this abstract pathname that satisfy the specified filter.
20 public File[] listFiles() Returns an array of abstract pathnames denoting the files in the directory denoted by this abstract pathname.
21 public File[] listFiles(FileFilter filter) Returns an array of abstract pathnames denoting the files and directories in the directory denoted by this abstract pathname that satisfy the specified filter.
22 public boolean mkdir() Creates the directory named by this abstract pathname. Returns true if and only if the directory was created; false otherwise.
23 public boolean mkdirs() Creates the directory named by this abstract pathname, including any necessary but nonexistent parent directories. Returns true if and only if the directory was created, along with all necessary parent directories; false otherwise.
24 public boolean renameTo(File dest) Renames the file denoted by this abstract pathname. Returns true if and only if the renaming succeeded; false otherwise.
25 public boolean setLastModified(long time) Sets the last-modified time of the file or directory named by this abstract pathname. Returns true if and only if the operation succeeded; false otherwise.
26 public boolean setReadOnly() Marks the file or directory named by this abstract pathname so that only read operations are allowed. Returns true if and only if the operation succeeded; false otherwise.
27 public static File createTempFile(String prefix, String suffix, File directory) throws IOException Creates a new empty file in the specified directory, using the given prefix and suffix strings to generate its name. Returns an abstract pathname denoting a newly-created empty file.
28 public static File createTempFile(String prefix, String suffix) throws IOException Creates an empty file in the default temporary-file directory, using the given prefix and suffix to generate its name. Invoking this method is equivalent to invoking createTempFile(prefix, suffix, null). Returns abstract pathname denoting a newly-created empty file.
29 public int compareTo(File pathname) Compares two abstract pathnames lexicographically. Returns zero if the argument is equal to this abstract pathname, a value less than zero if this abstract pathname is lexicographically less than the argument, or a value greater than zero if this abstract pathname is lexicographically greater than the argument.
30 public int compareTo(Object o) Compares this abstract pathname to another object. Returns zero if the argument is equal to this abstract pathname, a value less than zero if this abstract pathname is lexicographically less than the argument, or a value greater than zero if this abstract pathname is lexicographically greater than the argument.
31 public boolean equals(Object obj) Tests this abstract pathname for equality with the given object. Returns true if and only if the argument is not null and is an abstract pathname that denotes the same file or directory as this abstract pathname.
32 public String toString() Returns the pathname string of this abstract pathname. This is just the string returned by the getPath() method.

FileReader 
This class inherits from the InputStreamReader class. FileReader is used for reading streams of characters.
Constructors
FileReader(File file) 
FileReader(FileDescriptor fd)
FileReader(String fileName) 


Methods
1 public int read() throws IOException Reads a single character. Returns an int, which represents the character read.
2 public int read(char [] c, int offset, int len) Reads characters into an array. Returns the number of characters read. Example:            
  
FileWriter     
This class inherits from the OutputStreamWriter class. The class is used for writing streams of characters.
Constructors
FileWriter(File file) 
FileWriter(File file, boolean append) 
FileWriter(FileDescriptor fd) 
FileWriter(String fileName) 
FileWriter(String fileName, boolean append) 
Methods
1 public void write(int c) throws IOException Writes a single character.
2 public void write(char [] c, int offset, int len) Writes a portion of an array of characters starting from offset and with a length of len.
3 public void write(String s, int offset, int len) Write a portion of a String starting from offset and with a length of len.
    
Serialization and Deserialization
Java Serialization Java provides a mechanism, called object serialization where an object can be represented as a sequence of bytes that includes the object's data as well as information about the object's type and the types of data stored in the object.
After a serialized object has been written into a file, it can be read from the file and deserialized that is, the type information and bytes that represent the object and its data can be used to recreate the object in memory.
Most impressive is that the entire process is JVM independent, meaning an object can be serialized on one platform and deserialized on an entirely different platform.
Classes ObjectInputStream and ObjectOutputStream are high-level streams that contain the methods for serializing and deserializing an object.
The ObjectOutputStream class contains many write methods for writing various data types, but one method in particular stands out:
public final void writeObject(Object x)throws IOException
The above method serializes an Object and sends it to the output stream. Similarly, the ObjectInputStream class contains the following method for deserializing an object:
public final Object readObject()throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException
This method retrieves the next Object out of the stream and deserializes it. The return value is Object, so you will need to cast it to its appropriate data type.
Notice that for a class to be serialized successfully, two conditions must be met:
• The class must implement the java.io.Serializable interface.
• All of the fields in the class must be serializable. If a field is not serializable, it must be marked transient.

Example of serialization
import java.io.*; 
public class SerializeDemo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Employee e =new Employee();  
e.name ="Raj";   e.address ="E/32";  
e.city =”Delhi”;
try {
FileOutputStream fileOut =new FileOutputStream("employee");
 ObjectOutputStream out=new ObjectOutputStream(fileOut); out.writeObject(e); out.close();
fileOut.close();
}
catch(IOException i) {  
i.printStackTrace();
}
}
}  
Example of deserialization
import java.io.*;
public class DeserializeDemo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Employee e =null;    
try {
FileInputStream fileIn =new FileInputStream("employee.ser"); ObjectInputStream in=new ObjectInputStream(fileIn);
e =(Employee)in.readObject(); in.close();
fileIn.close();
}
catch(IOException i) {  
i.printStackTrace(); return;
}
catch(ClassNotFoundException c) {
System.out.println("Employee class not found");  
c.printStackTrace(); return;
}
 System.out.println("Deserialized Employee...");
System.out.println("Name: "+ e.name);
System.out.println("Address: "+ e.address);
 System.out.println("Number: "+ e.city);
}
}


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