CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javanio
Carlos Ferreira
Carlos Ferreira

Reputation: 565

Behavior of exists() method in java.nio.file.Files class

I'm testing if a file exists using the new classes in the Java nio package, but I'm getting a result that seems a bug:

The following code:

Path p = Paths.get("");
System.err.println("[" + p.getFileName().toString() + "]");
System.err.println("[" + p.getParent() + "]");
System.err.println(Files.exists(p));

Produces the output:

[]
[null]
true

Why does it print true? Is this a bug or is it the expected behavior?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 472

Answers (2)

Stephen C
Stephen C

Reputation: 718758

From the javadocs for the Path class:

"A Path is considered to be an empty path if it consists solely of one name element that is empty. Accessing a file using an empty path is equivalent to accessing the default directory of the file system."

You have created an empty path, and the exists() call is testing if the "default directory of the file system" exists. It does.

What you are seeing is "expected behavior".

Note that the "default directory" could mean different things depending on the host platform, but on UNIX based systems and Windows, it means the "current directory" for the JVM.

Upvotes: 0

Simon Martinelli
Simon Martinelli

Reputation: 36113

"" is the path where you execute your app.

Try this:

System.err.println(p.toFile().getAbsolutePath());

Then you will see where you are.

Upvotes: 1

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