How to tell why a file deletion fails in Java?

Question

File file = new File(path);
if (!file.delete())
{
    throw new IOException(
        \"Failed to delete the file because: \" +
        getReasonForFileDeletionFailur         


        

Answer 1

Hmm, best I could do:

public String getReasonForFileDeletionFailureInPlainEnglish(File file) {
    try {
        if (!file.exists())
            return "It doesn't exist in the first place.";
        else if (file.isDirectory() && file.list().length > 0)
            return "It's a directory and it's not empty.";
        else
            return "Somebody else has it open, we don't have write permissions, or somebody stole my disk.";
    } catch (SecurityException e) {
        return "We're sandboxed and don't have filesystem access.";
    }
}