CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javafileoverwrite
Ogen
Ogen

Reputation: 6709

Buffered Writer overwriting file when not wanted

I have this code here that takes in 3 arguments, A Directory, a Filename, and a number. The program creates the filename in the directory and writes the number in it. So I can say...

>java D: myName.txt Clay 100

which will create a file named myName.txt in D: and says 100 in it.

If myName is taken up, it changes the name to myName(2), then myName(3) (if myName(2) taken up). The only problem is that when it changes the name to myName(2) and writes, it overwrites myName. I dont want it to overwrite myName, I want it to just create a new file with that name. Ive looked at similar questions and the common answer is the flush and close the writer which ive done And it still doesnt work.

Any help would be appreciated, here is my code so fart...

import java.io.*;

public class filetasktest{
  public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException{
  int i = 2;
  String directory = args[0];
  if (directory.substring(directory.length() - 1) != "/"){
    directory += "/";
  }
  String contactName = args[1];
  String contactNumber = args[2];

  String finalDirectory = directory + contactName + ".contact";

  File f = new File(finalDirectory);

  while (f.exists()){
    finalDirectory = directory + contactName + "(" + ("" + i) + ")" + ".contact";
    f.renameTo(new File(finalDirectory));
    i++;
  }

  Writer writer = null;
  try {
    writer = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(
    new FileOutputStream(finalDirectory), "utf-8"));
    writer.write(contactNumber);
  } catch (IOException ex){
    System.out.println(ex.getMessage());
  } finally {
    try {
      writer.close();
    } catch (Exception ex) {
      System.out.println(ex.getMessage());
    }
  }
}

}

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1810

Answers (3)

Joni
Joni

Reputation: 111239

Your problem is here:

while (f.exists()){
  finalDirectory = directory + contactName + "(" + ("" + i) + ")" + ".contact";
  f.renameTo(new File(finalDirectory));
  i++;
}

The renameTo method does not change the path of a File object; it renames a file on disk. The path of f stays the same throughout the loop: it starts out as D:/myName.txt and if a file by that name exists, the file is renamed as D:/myName(1).txt. The variable f still holds the path D:/myName.txt, which no longer names a file, and the content is written to D:/myName(1).txt, overwriting the previous content.

To fix this issue change the loop to:

while (new File(finalDirectory).exists()){
  finalDirectory = directory + contactName + "(" + ("" + i) + ")" + ".contact";
  i++;
}

Upvotes: 2

MadProgrammer
MadProgrammer

Reputation: 347194

Take a look at FileInputStream(String, boolean) which will allow you to flag if the file should be appended or overwritten

Upvotes: 1

Prasad Kharkar
Prasad Kharkar

Reputation: 13556

You need to use append mode

 new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(yourFileName, true));

here, true means that the txt should be appended at the end of file. Check the FileWriter javadoc for more information.

Upvotes: 3

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