Java Delete Files

Java Delete Files

In Java, you can delete files using the java.io.File class or the java.nio.file.Files class. Both approaches provide methods to delete files. Here's how you can delete files using each approach:

Deleting Files with java.io.File

import java.io.File;

public class DeleteFile {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        File file = new File("example.txt");
        
        // Check if file exists before deleting
        if (file.exists()) {
            if (file.delete()) {
                System.out.println("File deleted successfully.");
            } else {
                System.out.println("Failed to delete the file.");
            }
        } else {
            System.out.println("File doesn't exist.");
        }
    }
}
      

Deleting Files with java.nio.file.Files

import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.io.IOException;

public class DeleteFileNIO {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Path path = Paths.get("example.txt");
        
        try {
            Files.delete(path);
            System.out.println("File deleted successfully.");
        } catch (IOException e) {
            System.out.println("Failed to delete the file: " + e.getMessage());
        }
    }
}
      

Notes:

• Both approaches first check if the file exists before attempting to delete it to avoid errors.
• The delete() method returns true if the file is successfully deleted and false otherwise. With NIO, an exception is thrown if the file cannot be deleted.
• Make sure your program has the necessary permissions to delete the file.

Differences:

• java.io.File is the older approach and provides basic file manipulation operations.
• java.nio.file.Files is part of the New I/O (NIO) API introduced in Java 7 and provides more powerful and flexible file operations.