Java Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 10
New Input/Output 2
In this chapter, you will learn
•
What New Input/Output 2 is
•
How to work with a file system and file store
Path
•
How to represent a platform-dependent abstract pathname using a
Path
object
•
How to perform different file operations on a
•
How to traverse a file tree
•
How to manage file attributes
•
How to watch a directory for changes
•
How to perform asynchronous file I/O operations
What Is New Input/Output 2?
Java 7 introduced New Input/Output 2 (NIO.2) API, which provides a new I/O API. It provides many features
that were lacking in the original File I/O API. The features provided in NIO.2 are essential for working with a file
system efficiently. It adds three packages to the Java class library:
java.nio.file
,
java.nio.file.attribute
, and
java.nio.file.spi
. The following are some of the new features of NIO.2:
•
It lets you deal with all file systems in a uniform way. The file system support provided by
NIO.2 is extensible. You can use the default implementation for a file system or you can
choose to implement your own file system.
•
It supports basic file operations (copy, move, and delete) on all file systems. It supports an
atomic file move operation. It has improved exception handling support.
•
It has support for symbolic links. Whenever applicable, operations on a symbolic link are
redirected to the target file.
•
One of the most important additions to NIO.2 is the support for accessing the attributes of file
systems and files.
•
It lets you create a watch service to watch for any events on a directory such as adding a new
file or a subdirectory, deleting a file, etc. When such an event occurs on the directory, your
program receives a notification through the watch service.
