CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javafilefile-io
Alistair_dumb
Alistair_dumb

Reputation: 41

Dynamic filepath in Java (writing and reading text files)

Okay, so I want to read a file name myfile.txt and let's say I'll be saving it under this directory:

home/myName/Documents/workspace/myProject/files myfile.txt

hmmm.. I want to know what I should pass on the File(filePath) as my parameter... Can I put something like "..\myfile.txt"? I don't want to hard code the file path, because, it will definitely change if say I open my project on another PC. How do i make sure that the filepath is as dynamic as possible? By the way, I'm using java.

File teacherFile = new File(filePath);

Upvotes: 4

Views: 28031

Answers (4)

MByD
MByD

Reputation: 137312

You can do it:

File currentDir = new File (".");
String basePath = currentDir.getCanonicalPath();

now basePath is the path to your application folder, add it the exact dir / filename and you're good to go

Upvotes: 1

vbence
vbence

Reputation: 20333

You can use relative paths, by default they will be relative to the current directory where you are executing the Java app from.

But you can also get the user's home directory with:

String userHome = System.getProperty("user.home");

Upvotes: 3

Peter Lawrey
Peter Lawrey

Reputation: 533492

You can use ../myfile.txt However the location of this will change depending on the working directory of the application. You are better off determining the base directory of you project is and using paths relative to that.

Upvotes: 0

WhiteFang34
WhiteFang34

Reputation: 72039

You can references files using relative paths like ../myfile.txt. The base of these paths will be the directory that the Java process was started in for the command line. For Eclipse it's the root of your project, or what you've configured as the working directory under Run > Run Configurations > Arguments. If you want to see what the current directory is inside of Java, here's a trick to determine it:

File currentDir = new File("");
System.out.println(currentDir.getAbsolutePath());

Upvotes: 5

Related Questions