Java I/O Tutorial

Java I/O (Input and Output) is used to process the input and produce the
output based on the input.

Java uses the concept of stream to make I/O operation fast. The java.io
package contains all the classes required for input and output operations.

We can perform file handling in java by java IO API.

Stream

A stream is a sequence of data.In Java a stream is composed of bytes. It's

called a stream because it's like a stream of water that continues to flow.

In java, 3 streams are created for us automatically. All these streams are
attached with console.

1) System.out: standard output stream

2) System.in: standard input stream

3) System.err: standard error stream

Let's see the code to print output and error message to the console.

1. System.out.println("simple message");  
2. System.err.println("error message");  

Let's see the code to get input from console.

1. int i=System.in.read();//returns ASCII code of 1st character  
2. System.out.println((char)i);//will print the character  

OutputStream

Java application uses an output stream to write data to a destination, it may

be a file,an array,peripheral device or socket.

InputStream

Java application uses an input stream to read data from a source, it may be a
file,an array,peripheral device or socket.
1
OutputStream class

OutputStream class is an abstract class.It is the superclass of all classes

representing an output stream of bytes. An output stream accepts output bytes
and sends them to some sink.

Commonly used methods of OutputStream class

Method Description
1) public void write(int)throws is used to write a byte to the current output
IOException: stream.
2) public void write(byte[])throws is used to write an array of byte to the
IOException: current output stream.
3) public void flush()throws flushes the current output stream.
IOException:
4) public void close()throws is used to close the current output stream.
IOException:

InputStream class

InputStream class is an abstract class.It is the superclass of all classes

representing an input stream of bytes.

Commonly used methods of InputStream class

Method Description
1) public abstract int reads the next byte of data from the input
read()throws IOException: stream.It returns -1 at the end of file.
2) public int available()throws returns an estimate of the number of bytes that
IOException: can be read from the current input stream.
3) public void close()throws is used to close the current input stream.
IOException:

2
FileInputStream and
FileOutputStream (File Handling)
In Java, FileInputStream and FileOutputStream classes are used to read and
write data in file. In another words, they are used for file handling in java.

Java FileOutputStream class

Java FileOutputStream is an output stream for writing data to a file.

If you have to write primitive values then use FileOutputStream.Instead, for

character-oriented data, prefer FileWriter.But you can write byte-oriented as
well as character-oriented data.

Example of Java FileOutputStream class

import java.io.*;  

class Test

{  

  public static void main(String args[])

{  

   try

{  

     FileOutputstream fout=new FileOutputStream("abc.txt");  

     String s="Sachin Tendulkar is my favourite player";  

     byte b[]=s.getBytes();//converting string into byte array  

     fout.write(b);  

     fout.close();  

     System.out.println("success...");  

3
     }catch(Exception e){system.out.println(e);}  

  }  }  

Output: success...

Java FileInputStream class

Java FileInputStream class obtains input bytes from a file.It is used for reading
streams of raw bytes such as image data. For reading streams of characters,
consider using FileReader.

It should be used to read byte-oriented data for example to read image, audio,
video etc.

Example of FileInputStream class

import java.io.*;  

class SimpleRead{  

 public static void main(String args[]){  

  try{  

    FileInputStream fin=new FileInputStream("abc.txt");  

    int i=0;  

    while((i=fin.read())!=-1)

{  

     System.out.println((char)i);  

 }  

    fin.close();  

  }

catch(Exception e){system.out.println(e);}  

 }  

4
 }  

Output:Sachin is my favourite player.

Example of Reading the data of current java file and writing it

into another file

We can read the data of any file using the FileInputStream class whether it is
java file, image file, video file etc. In this example, we are reading the data of
C.java file and writing it into another file M.java.

import java.io.*;  

class C

{  

public static void main(String args[])throws Exception

{  

FileInputStream fin=new FileInputStream("C.java");  

FileOutputStream fout=new FileOutputStream("M.java");  

int i=0;  

while((i=fin.read())!=-1)

{  

fout.write((byte)i);  

}  

fin.close();  

}  

}  

5
Java ByteArrayOutputStream class
Java ByteArrayOutputStream class is used to write data into multiple files. In
this stream, the data is written into a byte array that can be written to multiple
stream.

The ByteArrayOutputStream holds a copy of data and forwards it to multiple

streams.

The buffer of ByteArrayOutputStream automatically grows according to data.

Closing the ByteArrayOutputStream has no effect.

Constructors of ByteArrayOutputStream class

Constructor Description
ByteArrayOutputStream() creates a new byte array output stream with the
initial capacity of 32 bytes, though its size
increases if necessary.
ByteArrayOutputStream(int creates a new byte array output stream, with a
size) buffer capacity of the specified size, in bytes.

Methods of ByteArrayOutputStream class

Method Description
1) public synchronized void writes the complete contents of this byte
writeTo(OutputStream out) throws array output stream to the specified
IOException output stream.
2) public void write(byte b) throws writes byte into this stream.
IOException
3) public void write(byte[] b) throws writes byte array into this stream.
IOException
4) public void flush() flushes this stream.
5) public void close() has no affect, it doesn't closes the
bytearrayoutputstream.

6
Java ByteArrayOutputStream Example

Let's see a simple example of java ByteArrayOutputStream class to write data

into 2 files.

import java.io.*;  

class S

{  

 public static void main(String args[])throws Exception

{  

  FileOutputStream fout1=new FileOutputStream("f1.txt");  

  FileOutputStream fout2=new FileOutputStream("f2.txt");  

  ByteArrayOutputStream bout=new ByteArrayOutputStream();  

  bout.write(139);  

  bout.writeTo(fout1);  

  bout.writeTo(fout2);  

  bout.flush();  

  bout.close();//has no effect  

  System.out.println("success...");  

 }  

}   

success...

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Java SequenceInputStream class
Java SequenceInputStream class is used to read data from multiple streams. It
reads data of streams one by one.

Constructors of SequenceInputStream class:

Constructor Description
1) SequenceInputStream(InputStream creates a new input stream by
s1, InputStream s2) reading the data of two input
stream in order, first s1 and then
s2.
2) SequenceInputStream(Enumeration e) creates a new input stream by
reading the data of an
enumeration whose type is
InputStream.

Simple example of SequenceInputStream class

In this example, we are printing the data of two files f1.txt and f2.txt.

import java.io.*;  

class Simple

{  

  public static void main(String args[])throws Exception

{  

   FileinputStream fin1=new FileinputStream("f1.txt");  

   FileinputStream fin2=new FileinputStream("f2.txt");  

   SequenceinputStream sis=new SequenceinputStream(fin1,fin2);  

   int i;  

   while((i=sis.read())!=-1)

{  

8
     System.out.println((char)i);  

   }  

   sis.close();  

   fin1.close();  

   fin2.close();  

  }  

}  

Example of SequenceInputStream that reads the data from two

files

In this example, we are writing the data of two files f1.txt and f2.txt into
another file named f3.txt.

//reading data of 2 files and writing it into one file  

  

import java.io.*;  

class Simple

{  

  public static void main(String args[])throws Exception

{  

   FileinputStream fin1=new FileinputStream("f1.txt");  

   FileinputStream fin2=new FileinputStream("f2.txt");  

   FileOutputStream fout=new FileOutputStream("f3.txt");  

   SequenceinputStream sis=new SequenceinputStream(fin1,fin2);  

9
    int i;  

   while((i.sisread())!=-1)  

   {  

     fout.write(i);      

   }  

   sis.close();  

   fout.close();    

   fin.close();    

   fin.close();    

  

  }  

}  

Example of SequenceInputStream class that reads the data from

multiple files using enumeration

If we need to read the data from more than two files, we need to have these
information in the Enumeration object. Enumeration object can be get by
calling elements method of the Vector class. Let's see the simple example where
we are reading the data from the 4 files.

import java.io.*;  

import java.util.*;  

class B

{  

public static void main(String args[])throws IOException

{  

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//creating the FileInputStream objects for all the files  

FileInputStream fin=new FileInputStream("A.java");  

FileInputStream fin2=new FileInputStream("abc2.txt");  

FileInputStream fin3=new FileInputStream("abc.txt");  

FileInputStream fin4=new FileInputStream("B.java");  

  

//creating Vector object to all the stream  

Vector v=new Vector();  

v.add(fin);  

v.add(fin2);  

v.add(fin3);  

v.add(fin4);  

  

//creating enumeration object by calling the elements method  

Enumeration e=v.elements();  

  

//passing the enumeration object in the constructor  

SequenceInputStream bin=new SequenceInputStream(e);  

int i=0;  

  

while((i=bin.read())!=-1){  

System.out.print((char)i);  

11
}  

  

bin.close();  

fin.close();  

fin2.close();  

}  

}  

12
Java BufferedOutputStream and
BufferedInputStream

Java BufferedOutputStream class

Java BufferedOutputStream class uses an internal buffer to store data. It adds

more efficiency than to write data directly into a stream. So, it makes the
performance fast.

Example of BufferedOutputStream class:

In this example, we are writing the textual information in the

BufferedOutputStream object which is connected to the FileOutputStream
object. The flush() flushes the data of one stream and send it into another. It is
required if you have connected the one stream with another.

import java.io.*;  

class Test{  

 public static void main(String args[])throws Exception{  

   FileOutputStream fout=new FileOutputStream("f1.txt");  

   BufferedOutputStream bout=new BufferedOutputStream(fout);  

   String s="Sachin is my favourite player";  

   byte b[]=s.getBytes();  

   bout.write(b);  

   bout.flush();  

   bout.close();  

   fout.close();  

   System.out.println("success");  

13
  }  

}   

Output:

success...

Java BufferedInputStream class

Java BufferedInputStream class is used to read information from stream. It

internally uses buffer mechanism to make the performance fast.

Example of Java BufferedInputStream

Let's see the simple example to read data of file using BufferedInputStream.

import java.io.*;  

class SimpleRead

{  

 public static void main(String args[])

{  

  Try

{  

    FileInputStream fin=new FileInputStream("f1.txt");  

    BufferedInputStream bin=new BufferedInputStream(fin);  

    int i;  

    while((i=bin.read())!=-1)

{  

     System.out.println((char)i);  

    }  

    bin.close();  

14
     fin.close();  

  }catch(Exception e){system.out.println(e);}  

 }  

}  

Output:

Sachin is my favourite player

15
Java FileWriter and FileReader (File
Handling in java)
Java FileWriter and FileReader classes are used to write and read data from
text files. These are character-oriented classes, used for file handling in java.

Java has suggested not to use the FileInputStream and FileOutputStream

classes if you have to read and write the textual information.

Java FileWriter class

Java FileWriter class is used to write character-oriented data to the file.

Constructors of FileWriter class

Constructor Description

FileWriter(String file) creates a new file. It gets file name in string.

FileWriter(File file) creates a new file. It gets file name in File object.

Methods of FileWriter class

Method Description

1) public void write(String text) writes the string into FileWriter.

2) public void write(char c) writes the char into FileWriter.

3) public void write(char[] c) writes char array into FileWriter.

4) public void flush() flushes the data of FileWriter.

5) public void close() closes FileWriter.

Java FileWriter Example

In this example, we are writing the data in the file abc.txt.

1. import java.io.*;  

16
 2. class Simple{  
3.  public static void main(String args[]){  
4.   try{  
5.    FileWriter fw=new FileWriter("abc.txt");  
6.    fw.write("my name is sachin");  
7.    fw.close();  
8.   }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}  
9.   System.out.println("success");  
10.  }  
11. }  

Output:

success...

Java FileReader class

Java FileReader class is used to read data from the file. It returns data in byte
format like FileInputStream class.

Constructors of FileWriter class

Constructor Description

FileReader(String It gets filename in string. It opens the given file in read

file) mode. If file doesn't exist, it throws FileNotFoundException.

It gets filename in file instance. It opens the given file in read

FileReader(File file)
mode. If file doesn't exist, it throws FileNotFoundException.

Methods of FileReader class

Method Description

returns a character in ASCII form. It returns -1 at the end of

1) public int read()
file.

2) public void
closes FileReader.
close()

Java FileReader Example

In this example, we are reading the data from the file abc.txt file.

1. import java.io.*;  

17
 2. class Simple{  
3.  public static void main(String args[])throws Exception{  
4.   FileReader fr=new FileReader("abc.txt");  
5.   int i;  
6.   while((i=fr.read())!=-1)  
7.   System.out.println((char)i);  
8.   
9.   fr.close();  
10.  }  
11. }  

Output:

my name is sachin

CharArrayWriter class:
The CharArrayWriter class can be used to write data to multiple files. This
class implements the Appendable interface. Its buffer automatically grows
when data is written in this stream. Calling the close() method on this object
has no effect.

Example of CharArrayWriter class:

In this example, we are writing a common data to 4 files a.txt, b.txt, c.txt and
d.txt.

1. import java.io.*;  
2. class Simple{  
3.  public static void main(String args[])throws Exception{  
4.   
5.   CharArrayWriter out=new CharArrayWriter();  
6.   out.write("my name is");  
7.   
8.   FileWriter f1=new FileWriter("a.txt");  
9.   FileWriter f2=new FileWriter("b.txt");  
10.   FileWriter f3=new FileWriter("c.txt");  
11.   FileWriter f4=new FileWriter("d.txt");  
12.   
13.   out.writeTo(f1);  
14.   out.writeTo(f2);  
15.   out.writeTo(f3);  
16.   out.writeTo(f4);  
17.   
18.   

18
 19.   f1.close();  
20.   f2.close();  
21.   f3.close();  
22.   f4.close();  
23.  }  
24. }  

Reading data from keyboard:

There are many ways to read data from the keyboard. For example:

 InputStreamReader
 Console
 Scanner
 DataInputStream etc.

InputStreamReader class:

InputStreamReader class can be used to read data from keyboard.It performs

two tasks:

 connects to input stream of keyboard

 converts the byte-oriented stream into character-oriented stream

BufferedReader class:

BufferedReader class can be used to read data line by line by readLine()

method.

Example of reading data from keyboard by InputStreamReader

and BufferdReader class:

In this example, we are connecting the BufferedReader stream with the

InputStreamReader stream for reading the line by line data from the keyboard.

1. //<b><i>Program of reading data</i></b>  
2.   
3. import java.io.*;  
4. class G5{  
5. public static void main(String args[])throws Exception{  
6.   
7. InputStreamReader r=new InputStreamReader(System.in);  
8. BufferedReader br=new BufferedReader(r);  
9.   

19
 10. System.out.println("Enter your name");  
11. String name=br.readLine();  
12. System.out.println("Welcome "+name);  
13.  }  
14. }  

Output:Enter your name

Amit
Welcome Amit

Another Example of reading data from keyboard by

InputStreamReader and BufferdReader class until the user writes
stop

In this example, we are reading and printing the data until the user prints
stop.

1. import java.io.*;  
2. class G5{  
3. public static void main(String args[])throws Exception{  
4.   
5.  InputStreamReader r=new InputStreamReader(System.in);  
6.  BufferedReader br=new BufferedReader(r);  
7.   
8.  String name="";  
9.   
10.   while(name.equals("stop")){  
11.    System.out.println("Enter data: ");  
12.    name=br.readLine();  
13.    System.out.println("data is: "+name);  
14.   }  
15.   
16.  br.close();  
17.  r.close();  
18.  }  
19. }  

Output:Enter data: Amit

data is: Amit
Enter data: 10
data is: 10
Enter data: stop
data is: stop

20
Java Console class
The Java Console class is be used to get input from console. It provides
methods to read text and password.

If you read password using Console class, it will not be displayed to the user.

The java.io.Console class is attached with system console internally. The

Console class is introduced since 1.5.

Let's see a simple example to read text from console.

1. String text=System.console().readLine();  
2. System.out.println("Text is: "+text);  

Methods of Console class

Let's see the commonly used methods of Console class.

Method Description

is used to read a single line of text from the

1) public String readLine()
console.

2) public String readLine(String it provides a formatted prompt then reads the

fmt,Object... args) single line of text from the console.

is used to read password that is not being

3) public char[] readPassword()
displayed on the console.

4) public char[] it provides a formatted prompt then reads the

readPassword(String fmt,Object... password that is not being displayed on the
args) console.

How to get the object of Console

System class provides a static method console() that returns the unique
instance of Console class.

1. public static Console console(){}  

Let's see the code to get the instance of Console class.

1. Console c=System.console();  

21
Java Console Example

1. import java.io.*;  
2. class ReadStringTest{  
3. public static void main(String args[]){  
4. Console c=System.console();  
5. System.out.println("Enter your name: ");  
6. String n=c.readLine();  
7. System.out.println("Welcome "+n);  
8. }  
9. }  

Output:

Enter your name: james gosling

Welcome james gosling

Java Console Example to read password

1. import java.io.*;  
2. class ReadPasswordTest{  
3. public static void main(String args[]){  
4. Console c=System.console();  
5. System.out.println("Enter password: ");  
6. char[] ch=c.readPassword();  
7. String pass=String.valueOf(ch);//converting char array into string  
8. System.out.println("Password is: "+pass);  
9. }  
10. }   

Output:

Enter password:
Password is: sonoo

java.io.PrintStream class:
The PrintStream class provides methods to write data to another stream. The
PrintStream class automatically flushes the data so there is no need to call
flush() method. Moreover, its methods don't throw IOException.

Commonly used methods of PrintStream class:

There are many methods in PrintStream class. Let's see commonly used
methods of PrintStream class:

22
  public void print(boolean b): it prints the specified boolean value.
 public void print(char c): it prints the specified char value.
 public void print(char[] c): it prints the specified character array values.
 public void print(int i): it prints the specified int value.
 public void print(long l): it prints the specified long value.
 public void print(float f): it prints the specified float value.
 public void print(double d): it prints the specified double value.
 public void print(String s): it prints the specified string value.
 public void print(Object obj): it prints the specified object value.
 public void println(boolean b): it prints the specified boolean value and
terminates the line.
 public void println(char c): it prints the specified char value and
terminates the line.
 public void println(char[] c): it prints the specified character array
values and terminates the line.
 public void println(int i): it prints the specified int value and terminates
the line.
 public void println(long l): it prints the specified long value and
terminates the line.
 public void println(float f): it prints the specified float value and
terminates the line.
 public void println(double d): it prints the specified double value and
terminates the line.
 public void println(String s): it prints the specified string value and
terminates the line./li>
 public void println(Object obj): it prints the specified object value and
terminates the line.
 public void println(): it terminates the line only.
 public void printf(Object format, Object... args): it writes the formatted
string to the current stream.
 public void printf(Locale l, Object format, Object... args): it writes the
formatted string to the current stream.
 public void format(Object format, Object... args): it writes the
formatted string to the current stream using specified format.
 public void format(Locale l, Object format, Object... args): it writes the
formatted string to the current stream using specified format.

Example of java.io.PrintStream class:

In this example, we are simply printing integer and string values.

23
 1. import java.io.*;  
2. class PrintStreamTest{  
3.  public static void main(String args[])throws Exception{  
4.   
5.    FileOutputStream fout=new FileOutputStream("mfile.txt");  
6.    PrintStream pout=new PrintStream(fout);  
7.    pout.println(1900);  
8.    pout.println("Hello Java");  
9.    pout.println("Welcome to Java");  
10.    pout.close();  
11.    fout.close();  
12.       
13.  }  
14. }   

Example of printf() method of java.io.PrintStream class:

Let's see the simple example of printing integer value by format specifier.

1. class PrintStreamTest{  
2.  public static void main(String args[]){  
3.    int a=10;  
4.    System.out.printf("%d",a);//Note, out is the object of PrintStream class 
 
5.       
6.  }  
7. }   

Output:10

PipedInputStream and
PipedOutputStream classes
The PipedInputStream and PipedOutputStream classes can be used to read
and write data simultaneously. Both streams are connected with each other
using the connect() method of the PipedOutputStream class.

Example of PipedInputStream and PipedOutputStream classes

using threads

24
Here, we have created two threads t1 and t2. The t1 thread writes the data
using the PipedOutputStream object and the t2 thread reads the data from
that pipe using the PipedInputStream object. Both the piped stream object are
connected with each other.

1. import java.io.*;  
2. class PipedWR{  
3. public static void main(String args[])throws Exception{  
4. final PipedOutputStream pout=new PipedOutputStream();  
5. final PipedInputStream pin=new PipedInputStream();  
6.   
7. pout.connect(pin);//connecting the streams  
8. //creating one thread t1 which writes the data  
9. Thread t1=new Thread(){  
10. public void run(){  
11. for(int i=65;i<=90;i++){  
12. try{  
13. pout.write(i);  
14. Thread.sleep(1000);  
15. }catch(Exception e){}  
16. }  
17. }  
18. };  
19. //creating another thread t2 which reads the data  
20. Thread t2=new Thread(){  
21. public void run(){  
22. try{   
23. for(int i=65;i<=90;i++)  
24. System.out.println(pin.read());  
25. }catch(Exception e){}  
26. }  
27. };  
28. //starting both threads  
29. t1.start();  
30. t2.start();  
31. }}  

25