How to get the file absolute path in JAVA project

Question

Hi I need to read the file by using FileInputStream but I didn\'t get the right path. My file is location at C:\\Users\\tester\\Documents\\Java Project\\Samples\\ProjectOne\\src

Answer 1

You can create file and use getAbsolutePath method:

File file = new File("TestFile.txt");//full file path URL
String absolutePath = file.getAbsolutePath();

Here is the simple programme:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    File f = null;
    String path = "";
    boolean bool = false;
    try {
        // create new files
        f = new File("test.txt");
        // returns true if the file exists
        bool = f.exists();
        // if file exists
        if (bool) {
            // get absolute path
            path = f.getAbsolutePath();
            // prints
            System.out.print("Absolute Pathname " + path);
        }
    } catch (Exception e) {
        // if any error occurs
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Answer 2

You are probably using Eclipse and as you have saved the file TestFile.txt inside your source folder, it is being copied to the bin folder, the output folder of your project. Therefore, the path is not wrong. As in your code you use getResource method, the file will be retrieved from the same directory where your MainForm.class was found.

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/Class.html#getResource(java.lang.String)

If you really want to get such file from your source folder, then you should do something like this:

System.out.println(new File("src/pdfReader/TestFile.txt").getAbsolutePath());

However, if you are planning to distribute your application it would be better to store this kind of file in a resources folder because source folders are usually not included in dist packages.