Files & Streams

Vũ Thị Hồng Nhạn

([email protected])
Dept. of Software Engineering,
Faculty of Information Technology, UET
Vietnam National Univ., Hanoi
 Contents
 I/O streams
 Files & streams
 File class
 Serialize java objects
 Creating, writing, reading randomly/sequentially a random-
access file

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I/O streams
 A stream is a sequence of data
 Streams support many different kinds of data, including bytes, primitive
data types, characters, and objects
 An I/O stream represents many different kinds of sources and destinations
(e,g. disk files, devices, other programs)
 A program uses an Input stream to read data from a source, one item at a time

 A program uses an Output stream to write data to a destination, one at a time

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Byte streams
 Programs use byte streams to perform input & output of 8 bit bytes
 All byte stream classes are descended from InputStream and
OutputStream

 Hierarchy of InputStream

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Byte streams…

Hierarchy of OutputStream

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Byte streams…

InputStream
 int read()
 int read(byte buf[])
 int read(byte buf[], int offset, int length)
 void close()

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Byte streams…

OutputStream
 int write(int c)
 int write(byte buf[])
 int write(byte buf[], int offset, int length)
 void close()
 void flush()

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Byte streams…

Example 1
 Write a program using byte streams to copy a text file to another
file
 Copy one byte at a time
 Apply FileInputStream & FileOutputStream for the file I/O byte
streams

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Example 1…
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;

public class CopyBytes{

public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException{
FileInputStream in=null;
FileOutputStream out = null;
try{
in = new FileInputStream(“intest.txt”);
out = new FileOutputStream(“outtest.txt”);
int c;
while( (c = in.read()) != -1 ){ //c holds a byte value in its lass 8 bits
out.write(c);
}
}finally{
if( in !=null) { in.close(); }
if ( out !=null ) { out.close(); }
}
}
}

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 When not to use Byte streams
 The previous program represents a kind of low-level I/O that you
should avoid
 Because inTest.txt contain character data, the best approach is to
use character streams
 Actually, all other stream types are built on byte streams

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 Character streams
 All character stream classes are descended from Reader and
Writer
 As with byte streams, these are character stream classes that
specialize in the file I/O
 FileReader and FileWriter

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Character streams…

Hierarchy of Reader

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Character streams…

Hiearchy of Writer

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Character streams…

Reader
 int read()
 int read(char buf[])
 int read(char buf[], int offset, int length)
 void close()

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Character streams…

Writer
 int write(int c)
 int write(char buf[])
 int write(char buf[], int offset, int length)
 void close()
 void flush()

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Example 2
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.FileWriter;
import java.io.IOException;

public class CopyCharacters{

public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException{
FileReader in = null; FileWriter out = null;
try{
in = new FileReader(“inTest.txt”);
out = new FileWriter(“outTest.txt”);
char c;
while( (c = in.read()) != -1){ //c holds a character value in its last 16 bits
out.write(c);
}
}
finally{
if( in !=null ){ in.close(); }
if( out !=null) { out.close();}
}
}
}

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Buffered streams
 Examples mentioned use unbuffered I/O, i.e.
 Each read or write request is handled directly by the underlying OS
  make a program much less efficient!
 Since each request often triggers each disk access, network activity, or some
other relatively expensive operation

 Java platform implements buffered I/O streams

 Buffered input streams read data from memory area into a buffer
 Buffered output streams write data to a buffer

 A program can convert an unbuffered stream into a buffered stream

using the wrapping idiom, e.g., previous example can modified as…
 in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(inTest.txt))
 out = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(outTest.txt))

 4 buffered stream classes used to wrap unbuffered streams

 BufferedInputStream, BufferedOutputStream
 BufferedReader, BufferedWriter

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 Scanning
 Objects of type of Scanner

 breaking down formatted input into tokens

 & translating individual tokens according to their

data type

 By default, a scanner uses white space (blanks,

tabs, line terminators) to separate tokens

 To use a different token separator, invoke

useDelimiter()

 e.g., use the comma as the token separator

 s.useDelimiter(“,\\s*”); //Scanner s

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Example 1
import java.io.*;
import java.util.Scanner;
public class BreakIntoTokens{
Scanner s = null;
try{
s = new Scanner(new BufferedReader(new FileReader(“inTest.txt”)));
while(s.hasNext()){
System.out.println(s.next()); //output individual word in the file
}
}finally{
if(s !=null){ s.close(); }
}
}

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Example 2
import java.io.FileReader; import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException; import java.util.Scanner; import java.util.Locale
public class TranslateTokens{
Scanner s = null;
double sum = 0;
try{
s = new Scanner(new BufferedReader(new FileReader(“inTest.txt”)));
s.useLocale(Local.US); //separators & decimal symbols are locale specific
while(s.hasNext()){
if(s.hasNextDouble()){ sum += s.nextDouble(); }
else { s.next(); }
}
}finally{ if(s !=null){ s.close(); }
System.out.println(sum);
}
}
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I/O from the command line

• Java platform support interaction through the

command line
• Standard streams
Standard streams
 Java platform supports 3 standard streams
 Standard input: accessed through System.in
 Standard output: System.out
 Standard error: System.err

 These objects are defined automatically and don’t need to be opened

 They are byte streams (not character streams)

 System.out and System.err are defined as PrintStream objects

 To use standard input as a character stream, wrap System.in in

InputStreamReader
 InputStreamReader cin = new InputStreamReader(System.in)

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Example
InputStreamReader reader = new InputStreamReader(System.in);
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(reader);

String s;
try {
s = in.readLine();
}
catch (IOException e) {
...
}

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File
java.io.File class in java
 File class is an abstract representation of file and directory path
name
 A path name can be absolute or relative
 File class has several methods for working with files and
directories, e.g.,
 creating new files or directories
 deleting and renaming files or directories
 listing the contents of a directory

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E.g. create a file Object

try{
File file = new File(“C:/Users/vthnhan/Desktop/test”);
if(file.createNewFile()){….} //new file is created
else … //file already exists
}catch(IOException e){ e.printStackTrace() }

 Define an abstract file name for the test file in the directory
C:/Users/vthnhan/Desktop/

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Constructors
 File(String pathname)

 Creates a new File instance by converting the given pathname string into an
abstract pathname.

 File(File parent, String child)

 Creates a new File instance from a parent abstract pathname and a child
pathname string

 File(String parent, String child)

 Creates a new File instance from a parent pathname string and a child
pathname string

 File(URI uri)

 Creates a new File instance by converting the given file: URI into an abstract
pathname.

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Methods
 Files
 String getName()
 String getPath()
 String getAbsolutePath()
 String getParent()
 boolean renameTo(File newName)
 Check if the file..
 boolean exists()
 boolean canWrite()
 boolean canRead()
 boolean isFile()
 boolean isDirectory()
 boolean isAbsolute()
 Directory
 boolean mkdir()
 String[] list()
 …..
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File handling using FileWriter & FileReader

 are used to read and write data from text files

 they are Character stream classes

 it is recommended not to use FileInputStream & FileOutputStream

classes if you have to read and write text as these are Byte stream classes

 FileWriter class inherited from OutputStreamWriter class

 for writing streams of characters

 BufferedWriter can be used to improve speed of execution

 PrintWriter used to write a line (with methods print() & println())

 FileReader class inherited from InputStreamReader class

 for reading streams of characters
 BufferedReader can be used (readLine() read a line of text)

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E.g 1. read a file
File file = new File(”data.txt”);
FileReader reader = new FileReader(file);
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(reader);
String s;
try {
s = in.readLine();
}
catch (IOException e) {
...
}

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 E.g 1. read a file…
class Abc {
public void read(BufferedReader in) {
String s;
try {
s = in.readLine();
...
}catch (IOException e) {...}
}
public void doSomething() {...}
...
}

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 E.g 1. read a file…
File file = new File(”data.txt”);
FileReader reader = new FileReader(file);
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(reader);

Abc o = new Abc();

o.read(in);
o.doSomething();

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 E.g 2. write text to a file
File file = new File(”data.out”);
FileWriter writer = new FileWriter(file);
PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(writer);
String s = ”Hello”;
try {
out.println(s);
out.close();
}
catch (IOException e) {
}

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 E.g 2. write text to a file…
class Abc {
...
public void write(PrintWriter out) {
...
try {
out.println(s);
out.close();
}
catch (IOException e) {...}
}
}

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E.g 1. File copy
import java.io.*;
public class CopyFile {
public static void main(String args[]) {
try {
FileReader src = new FileReader(args[0]);
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(src);

FileWriter des = new FileWriter(args[1]);

PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(des);
String s;

s = in.readLine();
while (s != null) {
out.println(s);
s = in.readLine();
}

in.close();
out.close();
}
catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
}
}

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 Sequential access text file
 Read data
 FileInputStream: read data from a file
 DataInputStream: read data of primitive data types
 ObjectInputStream: read objects

 Write data
 FileOutputStream: write data to a file
 DataOutputStream: write primitive data
 ObjectOutputStream: write objects

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 DataInputStream/DataOutputStream
 DataInputStream: read primitive data
 readBoolean, readByte, readChar, readShort, readInt,
readLong, readFloat, readDouble

 DataOutputStream: write primitive data

 writeBoolean, writeByte, writeChar, writeShort, writeInt,
writeLong, writeFloat, writeDouble

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Write primitive data sequentially
import java.io.*;

public class TestDataOutputStream {

public static void main(String args[]) {
int a[] = {2, 3, 5, 7, 11};

try {
FileOutputStream fout = new FileOutputStream(args[0]);
DataOutputStream dout = new DataOutputStream(fout);

for (int i=0; i<a.length; i++)

dout.writeInt(a[i]);
dout.close();
}
catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

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Read primitive data sequentially
import java.io.*;

public class TestDataInputStream {

public static void main(String args[]) {

try {
FileInputStream fin = new FileInputStream(args[0]);
DataInputStream din = new DataInputStream(fin);

while (true) {
System.out.println(din.readInt());
}
}
catch (EOFException e) {}
catch (IOException e) {e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

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 Read/write objects sequentially

 To save a Java object to a database or transfer it over a network

 We need to convert the state of an object into a byte stream by using
Serialization

 To make a java object serializable, we need to implement a marker

interface
 java.io.Serializable

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Read/write objects sequentially

Example
import java.io.Serializable;

class Record implements Serializable {

private String name;
private float score;

public Record(String s, float sc) {

name = s;
score = sc;
}

public String toString() {

return "Name: " + name + ", score: " + score;
}
}

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Example 1: write objects
import java.io.*;

public class TestObjectOutputStream {

public static void main(String args[]) {
Record r[] = { new Record("john", 5.0F),
new Record("mary", 5.5F),
new Record("bob", 4.5F) };

try {
FileOutputStream fout = new FileOutputStream(“test.txt”);
ObjectOutputStream out = new ObjectOutputStream(fout);

for (int i=0; i<r.length; i++)

out.writeObject(r[i]);

out.close();
}
catch (IOException e) {e.printStackTrace(); }
}
}

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Example 2: read objects
import java.io.*;
public class TestObjectInputStream {
public static void main(String args[]) {
Record r;

try {
FileInputStream fin = new FileInputStream( “test.txt”);
ObjectInputStream in = new ObjectInputStream(fin);

while (true) {
r = (Record) in.readObject();
System.out.println(r);
}
}
catch (EOFException e) { System.out.println("No more records"); }
catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
System.out.println("Unable to create object");
}
catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
}
}

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 RandomAccessFile class
 is an independent class inherited from the Object class
 Support reading and writing data to a file randomly
 Record size must be fixed

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Example
import java.io.*;

public class WriteRandomFile {

public static void main(String args[]) {
int a[] = { 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 };

try {
File fout = new File(args[0]);
RandomAccessFile out = new RandomAccessFile(fout, "rw");

for (int i=0; i<a.length; i++)

out.writeInt(a[i]);
out.close();
}
catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
}
}

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Example…
import java.io.*;

public class ReadRandomFile {

public static void main(String args[]) {

try {
File fin = new File(args[0]);
RandomAccessFile in = new RandomAccessFile(fin, "r");

int recordNum = (int) (in.length() / 4);

for (int i=recordNum-1; i>=0; i--) {
in.seek(i*4);
System.out.println(in.readInt()); //read 4 bytes integer
}
}
catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
}
}

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 Conclusion
I/O streams
Byte streams, character streams
Sequential and random access files

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