3.3 Copying File Contents

Example 3-2 shows a program that copies the contents of a specified file to another file. This example uses the File class, much as Example 3-1 did, to check that the source file exists, that the destination is writable, and so on. But it also introduces the use of streams to work with the contents of files. It uses a FileInputStream to read the bytes of the source file and a FileOutputStream to copy those bytes to the destination file.

The copy( ) method implements the functionality of the program. This method is heavily commented, so that you can follow the steps it takes. First, it performs a surprisingly large number of checks to verify that the copy request is a legitimate one. If all those tests succeed, it then creates a FileInputStream to read bytes from the source and a FileOutputStream to write those bytes to the destination. Notice the use of a byte array buffer to store bytes during the copy. Pay particular attention to the short while loop that actually performs the copy. The combination of assignment and testing in the condition of the while loop is a useful idiom that occurs frequently in I/O programming. Also notice the finally statement that ensures the streams are properly closed before the program exits.

In addition to using streams to read from and write to files, this program also uses streams to read from and write to the console. Before overwriting an existing file, this example asks for user confirmation. It demonstrates how to read lines of text with a BufferedReader that reads individual characters from an InputStreamReader, which in turn reads bytes from System.in (an InputStream), which reads keystrokes from the user's keyboard. Additionally, the program displays textual output with System.out and System.err, which are both instances of PrintStream.

The static FileCopy.copy( ) method can be called directly by any program. The FileCopy class also provides a main( ) method, however, so that it can be used as a standalone program.

Example 3-2. FileCopy.java
package je3.io; import java.io.*; /**  * This class is a standalone program to copy a file, and also defines a   * static copy( ) method that other programs can use to copy files.  **/ public class FileCopy {     /** The main( ) method of the standalone program.  Calls copy( ). */     public static void main(String[  ] args) {         if (args.length != 2)    // Check arguments              System.err.println("Usage: java FileCopy <source> <destination>");         else {             // Call copy( ) to do the copy; display any error messages             try { copy(args[0], args[1]); }             catch (IOException e) { System.err.println(e.getMessage( )); }         }     }          /**      * The static method that actually performs the file copy.      * Before copying the file, however, it performs a lot of tests to make      * sure everything is as it should be.      */     public static void copy(String from_name, String to_name)         throws IOException     {         File from_file = new File(from_name);  // Get File objects from Strings         File to_file = new File(to_name);                  // First make sure the source file exists, is a file, and is readable.         // These tests are also performed by the FileInputStream constructor,         // which throws a FileNotFoundException if they fail.         if (!from_file.exists( ))             abort("no such source file: " + from_name);         if (!from_file.isFile( ))             abort("can't copy directory: " + from_name);         if (!from_file.canRead( ))             abort("source file is unreadable: " + from_name);                  // If the destination is a directory, use the source file name         // as the destination file name         if (to_file.isDirectory( ))             to_file = new File(to_file, from_file.getName( ));                  // If the destination exists, make sure it is a writeable file         // and ask before overwriting it.  If the destination doesn't         // exist, make sure the directory exists and is writeable.         if (to_file.exists( )) {             if (!to_file.canWrite( ))                 abort("destination file is unwriteable: " + to_name);             // Ask whether to overwrite it             System.out.print("Overwrite existing file " + to_file.getName( ) +                              "? (Y/N): ");             System.out.flush( );             // Get the user's response.             BufferedReader in=                 new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));             String response = in.readLine( );             // Check the response.  If not a Yes, abort the copy.             if (!response.equals("Y") && !response.equals("y"))                 abort("existing file was not overwritten.");         }         else {               // If file doesn't exist, check if directory exists and is             // writeable.  If getParent( ) returns null, then the directory is             // the current dir.  so look up the user.dir system property to             // find out what that is.             String parent = to_file.getParent( );  // The destination directory             if (parent ==== null)     // If none, use the current directory                 parent = System.getProperty("user.dir");             File dir = new File(parent);          // Convert it to a file.             if (!dir.exists( ))                 abort("destination directory doesn't exist: "+parent);             if (dir.isFile( ))                 abort("destination is not a directory: " + parent);             if (!dir.canWrite( ))                 abort("destination directory is unwriteable: " + parent);         }                  // If we've gotten this far, then everything is okay.         // So we copy the file, a buffer of bytes at a time.         FileInputStream from = null;  // Stream to read from source         FileOutputStream to = null;   // Stream to write to destination         try {             from = new FileInputStream(from_file);  // Create input stream             to = new FileOutputStream(to_file);     // Create output stream             byte[  ] buffer = new byte[4096];         // To hold file contents             int bytes_read;                         // How many bytes in buffer             // Read a chunk of bytes into the buffer, then write them out,             // looping until we reach the end of the file (when read( ) returns             // -1).  Note the combination of assignment and comparison in this             // while loop.  This is a common I/O programming idiom.             while((bytes_read = from.read(buffer)) != -1) // Read until EOF                 to.write(buffer, 0, bytes_read);            // write         }         // Always close the streams, even if exceptions were thrown         finally {             if (from != null) try { from.close( ); } catch (IOException e) { ; }             if (to != null) try { to.close( ); } catch (IOException e) { ; }         }     }     /** A convenience method to throw an exception */     private static void abort(String msg) throws IOException {          throw new IOException("FileCopy: " + msg);      } }


Java Examples in a Nutshell
Java Examples in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition
ISBN: 0596006209
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 285

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