CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaapache-commons
Daud
Daud

Reputation: 7887

How to specify a new name for a file while moving it to another directory in Java?

Apache Commons IO has a method for moving files to another directory which doesn't allow me to specify a new name for it in the target directory:

public static void moveFileToDirectory(File srcFile, File destDir, boolean createDestDir)
                                throws IOException

I don't want to rename the file first, and then move the file to the other directory. Is there any way to do this via a single statement in any library method ? (I want a single method so as to avoid any concurrency issues, which will be automatically handled by the library)

Upvotes: 1

Views: 7329

Answers (4)

Michael
Michael

Reputation: 7448

The Apache Commons IO FIleUtils class has the moveFile method. You simply need to specify the "new name" as part of the destFile argument.

FileUtils.moveFile(
      FileUtils.getFile("src/test/old-resources/oldname.txt"), 
      FileUtils.getFile("src/test/resources/renamed.txt"));

As Ian Roberts rightly says in his answer, you can just use the srcFile.renameTo(destFile) method on the file if you know the destination exists, but the Commons IO class does the checking / folder creation for you. It uses FileUtils own copyFile method in the background if the renameTo fails (returns false) for any reason. If we look at the method comment, we clearly see "The directory holding the destination file is created if it does not exist".

This is the source of the FileUtils moveFile method, so that you can clearly see what it's providing for you:

2943    public static void moveFile(final File srcFile, final File destFile) throws IOException {
2944        if (srcFile == null) {
2945            throw new NullPointerException("Source must not be null");
2946        }
2947        if (destFile == null) {
2948            throw new NullPointerException("Destination must not be null");
2949        }
2950        if (!srcFile.exists()) {
2951            throw new FileNotFoundException("Source '" + srcFile + "' does not exist");
2952        }
2953        if (srcFile.isDirectory()) {
2954            throw new IOException("Source '" + srcFile + "' is a directory");
2955        }
2956        if (destFile.exists()) {
2957            throw new FileExistsException("Destination '" + destFile + "' already exists");
2958        }
2959        if (destFile.isDirectory()) {
2960            throw new IOException("Destination '" + destFile + "' is a directory");
2961        }
2962        final boolean rename = srcFile.renameTo(destFile);
2963        if (!rename) {
2964            copyFile( srcFile, destFile );
2965            if (!srcFile.delete()) {
2966                FileUtils.deleteQuietly(destFile);
2967                throw new IOException("Failed to delete original file '" + srcFile +
2968                        "' after copy to '" + destFile + "'");
2969            }
2970        }
2971    }

Source: http://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-io/apidocs/org/apache/commons/io/FileUtils.html#moveFile(java.io.File, java.io.File)

Upvotes: 5

Ian Roberts
Ian Roberts

Reputation: 122414

If you know the target directory exists already then you don't need anything external, just use srcFile.renameTo(destFile) - the source and destination files don't have to be in the same directory.

Upvotes: 1

sol4me
sol4me

Reputation: 15708

Starting from Java7 you can use Files.move. E.g.

Path source = Paths.get(src);
Path target = Paths.get(dest);
Files.move(source, target, REPLACE_EXISTING, COPY_ATTRIBUTES);

Upvotes: 5

dehlen
dehlen

Reputation: 7391

Apache Commons has a lot of useful methods. For example you could use this one:

  public void moveMyFile throws IOException {
      FileUtils.moveFile(
      FileUtils.getFile("path/to/source.txt"), 
      FileUtils.getFile("path/to/new destination.txt"));
}

Upvotes: 0

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