Java: check symbolic link file existence

Question

We talk about java 1.6 here. Since symoblic link is not yet supported, how can examine the existence of them.

1: tell wheather the link file itself exists (return tr

Answer 1

The following should give you a start:

if (file.exists() && !file.isDirectory() && !file.isFile()) {
    // it is a symbolic link (or a named pipe/socket, or maybe some other things)
}

if (file.exists()) {
    try {
        file.getCanonicalFile();
    } catch (FileNotFoundException ex) {
        // it is a broken symbolic link
    }
}

EDIT : The above don't work as I thought because file.isDirectory() and file.isFile() resolve a symbolic link. (We live and learn!)

If you want an accurate determination, you will need to use JNI to make the relevant native OS-specific library calls.