Chapter Four

Java Files and I/O Streams

By: Sinodos G.

1
Introduction

 Java Input and Output is used to process the input and

produce the output.

 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 and it contains classes that
perform input and output.

 In Java, I/O classes are differentiated according to the

type of data being read or written.

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Cont’d …
 Byte oriented and numeric data is written with
output streams and read with input streams.

 Character data, that is text, is written with writers

and read with readers.

 Whether you use streams or readers and writers

depends on the type of data you're dealing with.

 All text data, especially non-ASCII text, should be

passed through a reader or writer.

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Cont’d …
 The two main stream classes are
• java.io.InputStream
• java.io.OutputStream

 The two main reader and writer classes are:

• java.io.Reader and
• java.io.Writer

 These are abstract base classes for many different

subclasses with more specialized abilities.

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Java Stream
 a sequence of data [composed of bytes] of
undetermined length.

 Java creates three streams automatically. All these

streams are attached with console.

• System.out: standard output stream

• System.in: standard input stream
• System.err: standard error stream

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Cont’d …
 Let's see the code to print output and error
message to the console.
 System.out.println("simple message");
 System.err.println("error message");

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

• int i=System.in.read();
• //returns ASCII code of 1st character

 System.out.println((char)i);
• //it will print the character

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Java Stream Classes
 Most java stream classes are part of the java.io package

 The two main classes are java.io.InputStream and

java.io.OutputStream.

 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.
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Cont’d …

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Cont’d …
 Some list of input and output java Streams :-

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Output Stream
• It is the super class of all classes representing an
output stream of bytes.
• An output stream accepts output bytes and sends
them to some sink.

 Methods of Output stream Class

• Write (int): used to write a byte to the current output
stream.
• Write (byte []): is used to write an array of byte to the
current output stream.
• Flush (): Flushes the current output stream.
• Close (): Used to close the current output stream.

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Input Stream class

• It is the super class of all classes representing an input

stream of bytes.

 Methods of Input Stream Class

• int read(): reads the next byte of data from the input
stream. It returns -1 at the end of file.

• available (): returns an estimate of the number of

bytes that can be read from the current input stream.

• close (): is used to close the current input stream.

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 File
 A collection of information that is stored on a
computer and assigned a particular name.

 Every file has a name.

 A file name often ends with a special suffix that

indicates the kind of data it contains or the format
in which it has been stored.

 This suffix is known as a file extension.

 lists some common file extensions.

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Cont’d …
 Files can be classified into two depending on the format
that is used.

 Text files and

 Binary files

 Text files: can be edited using simple text editors.

 Text files are often stored using the .txt extension, but
other file formats are also text formats, including .java
and .html files

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Cont’d …
Binary files:
• are stored using an internal format that requires
special software to process.

• To access a file from inside a Java program, you

need to construct an internal object that will
represent the file.
File f = new File (“Computer.txt");

• Once you’ve constructed the object, you can

call a number of methods to manipulate the file.

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 Example:-
 The following program calls a method that determines whether
a file exists, whether it can be read, what its length is and what
its absolute path is.

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Useful class of FileObjects

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

 Used to :
 write primitive values into a file
 write byte-oriented as well as character-oriented data
 For character-oriented data, it is preferred to use
FileWriter than FileOutStream.

Declaration
 declaration into java.io.FileOutputStream class
 public class FileOutputStream extends OutputStream

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Methods:
 finalize(): It is used to clean up the connection with
the file output stream.

 write(byte[] ary): It is used to write ary.length bytes

from the byte array to the file output stream.

 write(byte[] ary, int len): It is used to write len bytes

from the byte array starting at offset off to the file
output stream.

 write(int b): It is used to write the specified byte to

the file output stream.

 close(): It is used to closes the file output stream.

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Example:

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Example 2

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FileInputStream Class
 FileInputStream class obtains input bytes from a file.
 It is used for reading byte-oriented data (streams of
raw bytes) such as image data, audio, video etc.

 You can also read character-stream data. But, for

reading streams of characters, it is recommended to
use FileReader class.

 It’s declaration is for java.io.FileInputStream

 public class FileInputStream extends InputStream

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FileInputStream class methods
 available(): It is used to return the estimated number
of bytes that can be read from the input stream.
 read(): It is used to read the byte of data from the
input stream.
 read(byte[] b): It is used to read up to b.length bytes
of data from the input stream.
 read(byte[] b, int len): It is used to read up to len
bytes of data from the input stream.
 finalize(): It is used to ensure that the close method
is call when there is no more reference to the file
input stream.
 close(): It is used to closes the stream.
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Example: read single (first) character

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Example 2

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Java Buffered Stream
BufferedOutputStream Class
• Used for buffering an output stream.
• Internally uses buffer to store data.
• Adds more efficiency than to write data directly into
a stream. So, it makes the performance fast.

 Syntax:
OutputStream os new BufferedOutputStream(new
FileOutputStream("D:\\IO Package\\test.txt"));

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 Constructors

 BufferedOutputStream(OutputStream os)
 Used for writing the data to the specified
output stream.

 BufferedOutputStream(OutputStream os, int size)

 Used for writing the data to the specified
output stream with a specified buffer size.

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Methods
 write (int b):
• It writes the specified byte to the buffered output
stream.
 write(byte[] b, int off, int len):
• It write the bytes from the specified byte-input stream
into a specified byte array, starting with the given
offset

 flush():
• It flushes the buffered output stream.
• Flushes the data of one stream and send it into
another. It is required if you have connected the one
stream with another.
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Example

28
Cont’d …
BufferedInputStream Class

• Used to read information from stream.

• Internally uses buffer mechanism to make the

performance fast.

• When the bytes from the stream are skipped or read,

the internal buffer automatically refilled from the
contained input stream, many bytes at a time.

• When a BufferedInputStream is created, an internal

buffer array is created.
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Example

30
Sequence Streams

SequenceInputStream Class
• Used to read data from multiple streams.

• It reads data sequentially (one by one).

• Declared in Java.io.SequenceInputStream class

• public class SequenceInputStream extends InputStream

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Cont’d …
Constructors:
SequenceInputStream(InputStream s1, InputStream s2):
• creates a new input stream by reading
the data of two input stream in order,
first s1 and then s2.
SequenceInputStream(Enumeration e):
• creates a new input stream by reading
the data of an enumeration whose type
is InputStream.

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Example1:

33
Example: writing the data of two files lab.txt and lab1.txt into
another file named student.txt

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 Cont’d …

 SequenceInputStream: using enumeration

 Used to read the data from more than two files.
 It can be obtained by calling elements () method of the
Vector class.

Example: Reading data from 4 files using Enumeration: a.txt,

b.txt, c.txt and d.txt.

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36
 Java Array Stream Class
 Java ByteArrayOutputStream
 Used to write common data into multiple files.

 Data is written into a byte array which can be written to

multiple streams later.

 Holds a copy of data and forwards it to multiple streams.

 The buffer automatically grows according to data.

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 Cont’d …
Constructor:
 ByteArrayOutputStream()
• Creates a new byte array output stream with the
initial capacity of 32 bytes, though its size increases if
necessary.

 ByteArrayOutputStream(int size)
• Creates a new byte array output stream, with a
buffer capacity of the specified size, in bytes.

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Example

39
Cont’d …
ByteArrayInputStream Class
 It is a composed of two words: ByteArray and
InputStream.

 Used to read byte array as input stream.

 It contains an internal buffer which is used to read

byte array as stream. In this stream, the data is read
from a byte array.

 The buffer automatically grows according to data.

40
Constructors
 ByteArrayInputStream(byte[] ary)
• Creates a new byte array input stream which uses ary
as its buffer array.

 ByteArrayInputStream(byte[] ary, int len)

• Creates a new byte array input stream which uses ary
as its buffer array that can read up to specified len
bytes of data from an array.

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Methods
 int available():- It is used to return the number of
remaining bytes that can be read from the input
stream.
 int read():- It is used to read the next byte of data
from the input stream.
 int read(byte[] ary, int len): It is used to read up to
len bytes of data from an array of bytes in the input
stream.
 reset(): It is used to reset the buffer of a byte array.
 close(): It is used for closing a ByteArrayInputStream.
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Example

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Exercise
 Write the following information at
D://Student//Ajava//Exercise using Any output Stream.

 Information:
 Java is a high level, robust and secured programming
language.

 Read the above Information using any Input stream

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Java Data Streams
Java DataOutputStream Class
 Allows an application to write primitive Java data
types to the output stream in a machine
independent way.

 Java application generally uses the data output

stream to write data that can later be read
by a data input stream.
 Declared in java.io.DataOutputStream class
 public class DataOutputStream extends
FilterOutputStream implements DataOutput

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Example

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Cont’d …
Java DataInputStream Class

 Allows an application to read primitive data from the

input stream in a machineindependent way.

 Java application generally uses the data output stream

to write data that can later be read by a data input
stream.

 Declared in java.io.DataInputStream class

 public class DataInputStream extends FilterInputStream

implements DataInput

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Example:

48
Reading Assignment

• Java Filter Stream

• Permission Stream
• FileWriter Class
• FileReader Class
• PrintStream Class
• PrintWriter class
• Printeader class
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Java Permission Stream
 Java provides a number of method calls to check and
change the permission of a file, such as a read-only file
can be changed to have permissions to write.

 File permissions are required to be changed when the

user want to restrict the operations permissible on a file.

 Example: a file permission can be changed from write to

read-only because the user no longer want to edit the
file.

 A file can be in any combination of following

permissible permissions.

50
Cont’d …
 A file can be in any combination of following
permissible permissions:

 Executable: Tests whether the application can execute

the file denoted by this abstract path name.
• canExecute()

 Readable: Tests whether the application can read the

file denoted by this abstract path name.
• canRead()

 Writable: Tests whether the application can modify the

file denoted by this abstract path name.
• canWrite()

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Cont’d …
 Java FilePermission Class
• Java FilePermission class contains the permission related
to a directory or file.
• All the permissions are related with path. The path can be
of two types.
• D:\\IO\\-: It indicates that the permission is associated with
all sub directories and files recursively.
• D:\\IO\\*: It indicates that the permission is associated with
all directory and files within this directory excluding sub
directories.

• It declared in Java.io.FilePermission class

 security. PermissionCollection
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Cont’d …

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Cont’d …
 Changing file permissions
 A file can have any combinations of the following
permissions:

 Executable
• setExecutable()

 Readable
• setReadable()

 Writable
• setWritable()

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Cont’d ….

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Java FileWriter Class
 a subclass of Writer abstract class and it is used to write
a character, character array or a String to a file.
 It is character-oriented class which is used for file
handling in java.
 Unlike FileInputStream class, you don't need to convert
string into byte array because it provides method to
write string directly.
 Declared in Java.io.FileWriter class:

 public class FileWriter extends OutputStreamWriter

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 Cont’d …
Constructor
 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
 flush()
 write(int c)
 write(char[])
 write(String str)
 close()
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Example: FileWriter class.

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Java FileReader Class

• Used to read data from the file.

• It returns data in byte format like FileInputStream

class.

• It is character-oriented class which is used for file

handling in java.

• Declaration in Java.io.FileReader class

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Cont’d …
 FileReader(String file)
• It gets filename in string. It opens the given file in read
mode. If file doesn't exist, it throws

• FileNotFoundException.

 FileReader(File file)
• It gets filename in file instance. It opens the given file in
read mode. If file doesn't exist, it

• throws FileNotFoundException.

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Cont’d …
 Methods
• available()
 gives the remaining number of bytes available to read
from this input stream.
• read()
 reads one character at a time from this input character
stream.
• read(char[])
 reads a whole character array at a time from this input
character stream.
• close()
 closes this input stream and also frees any resources
connected with this input stream.
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Example: reading the data from the text file test1.txt using
Java FileReader class.

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Java PrintStream Class
 provides methods to write data to another stream.
 write data not only in terms of characters but also in
terms of primitive data types
 like int, float, long, double and even an Object.

 PrintStream class can be wrapped around any

OutputStream or a Writer class, to write data to a file.

 The PrintStream class automatically flushes the data so

there is no need to call flush ()

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Cont’d …
 Constructors

 PrintWriter(File file) Methods

 PrintWriter(OutputStream os) • flush()

• write()
 PrintWriter(Writer w) • write(byte[])
• print(char c)
• print(int i)
• println(long l)
• println(float f)

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Example:

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Directories in Java
 A directory is a File which can contain a list of
other files and directories.

 Use file object to create directories, to list down

files available in a directory.

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Creating Directories
 There are two useful methods, which can be used to
create directories: -

 The mkdir( ): method creates a directory, returning

true on success and false on failure.
• Failure indicates that the path specified in the File
object already exists, or that the directory cannot be
created because the entire path does not exist yet.

 The mkdirs(): method creates both a directory and

all the parents of the directory. The Following
 Example creates "D:\\DDIT\\Abebe\\Tesfaye":

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Example

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Listing Directories
 List ( ) method: Provided by File object to list down
all the files and directories available in a directory.

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Exercise
1. Write a program that creates the following
directories.

D://Student//Class//Java//Handout//Chapter1.doc

2. Write a program, that create first the above

directories and write the following Information
to the given file name. “Hello Students”

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Solution Question Number 1:

71
Solution Question Number 2

72
Serialization
 Java provides a mechanism, called object
serialization where an object can be represented as a
sequence of bytes that includes:-
 The object's data as well as information about the
object's type and

 The types of data stored in the object.

 It is mainly used in Hibernate, RMI, JPA, EJB and JMS

technologies.

 The reverse operation of

serialization is called deserialization.
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Cont’d …
 Classes ObjectInputStream and ObjectOutputStream are
high-level streams that contain the methods for serializing
and deserializing an object.

 In java serialization:
• The ObjectOutputStream: used for serializable (to write
objects) and
• The ObjectInputStream: used for deserializable (to read
object)
• The class must implement the java.io.Serializable
interface.
• When serializing an object to a file, the standard
convention in Java is to give the file a .ser extension.
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Cont’d …
 Advantage of Java Serialization
• Used to convert objects into stream.

• It is mainly used to travel object's state on the network

(known as marshaling)

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java.io.Serializable Interface

• Serializable is a marker interface (has no data member

and method).

• It is used to "mark" java classes so that objects of these

classes may get certain capability.

• It must be implemented by the class whose object you

want to persist.

• The String class and all the wrapper classes’ implements

java.io.Serializable interface by default.

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 Cont’d …
import java.io.Serializable;
public class Student implements Serializable{
int id;
String name;
public Student(int id, String name) {
this.id = id;
this.name = name;
}
}

• In the above example, Student class implements Serializable

interface. Now its objects can be converted into stream.

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ObjectOutputStream class

 The ObjectOutputStream class is used to write

primitive data types and Java objects to an
OutputStream.

 Only objects that support the java.io.Serializable

interface can be written to streams.

Constructor

 public ObjectOutputStream(OutputStream out)

• creates an ObjectOutputStream that writes to the
specified OutputStream.

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Important Methods

 public final void writeObject(Object obj)

 writes the specified object to the
ObjectOutputStream.

 public void flush()

 flushes the current output stream.

 public void close()

 closes the current output stream.

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Example: Serialization

80
Deserialization

 Deserialization is the process of reconstructing the

object from the serialized state.
 It is the reverse operation of serialization.

 ObjectInputStream class
• An ObjectInputStream deserializes objects written using an
ObjectOutputStream.

 Constructor
 public ObjectInputStream(InputStream in)
• creates an ObjectInputStream that reads from the specified
InputStream

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 Methods
 readObject() : reads an object from the input stream.
 close(): closes ObjectInputStream.

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The transient Keyword
 Java transient keyword is used in serialization. If you
define any data member as transient, it
will not be serialized

Example: I have declared a class as Student, it has

three data members’ id, name and age.
• If you serialize the object, all the values will be
serialized but I don't want to serialize one
value.
• e.g. age then we can declare the age data member
as transient.

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Example:

84
Question

85