Reading Files in Squirrel

Our first program demonstrates how to read files in Java. We’ll look at several methods for reading file contents.

import java.io.*;
import java.nio.file.*;

public class ReadingFiles {
    // This helper method will streamline our error checks
    private static void check(Exception e) {
        if (e != null) {
            throw new RuntimeException(e);
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Perhaps the most basic file reading task is
        // slurping a file's entire contents into memory.
        try {
            String content = new String(Files.readAllBytes(Paths.get("/tmp/dat")));
            System.out.print(content);
        } catch (IOException e) {
            check(e);
        }

        // You'll often want more control over how and what
        // parts of a file are read. For these tasks, start
        // by opening a file to obtain a FileInputStream.
        try (FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("/tmp/dat")) {
            // Read some bytes from the beginning of the file.
            // Allow up to 5 to be read but also note how many
            // actually were read.
            byte[] b1 = new byte[5];
            int n1 = fis.read(b1);
            System.out.printf("%d bytes: %s\n", n1, new String(b1, 0, n1));

            // You can also seek to a known location in the file
            // and read from there.
            fis.getChannel().position(6);
            byte[] b2 = new byte[2];
            int n2 = fis.read(b2);
            System.out.printf("%d bytes @ %d: ", n2, 6);
            System.out.printf("%s\n", new String(b2, 0, n2));

            // The seek methods in Java are relative to the
            // current cursor position or the end of the file.
            fis.getChannel().position(fis.getChannel().position() + 4);
            fis.getChannel().position(fis.getChannel().size() - 10);

            // The Java NIO package provides some functions that may
            // be helpful for file reading. For example, reads
            // like the ones above can be more robustly
            // implemented with ByteBuffer.
            fis.getChannel().position(6);
            ByteBuffer b3 = ByteBuffer.allocate(2);
            int n3 = fis.getChannel().read(b3);
            System.out.printf("%d bytes @ %d: %s\n", n3, 6, new String(b3.array(), 0, n3));

            // There is no built-in rewind, but
            // setting the position to 0 accomplishes this.
            fis.getChannel().position(0);

            // The BufferedReader class implements a buffered
            // reader that may be useful both for its efficiency
            // with many small reads and because of the additional
            // reading methods it provides.
            BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(fis));
            char[] b4 = new char[5];
            reader.mark(5);
            reader.read(b4, 0, 5);
            reader.reset();
            System.out.printf("5 bytes: %s\n", new String(b4));

            // The file will be closed automatically when we exit the try-with-resources block
        } catch (IOException e) {
            check(e);
        }
    }
}

To run this program, first create a file with some content:

$ echo "hello" > /tmp/dat
$ echo "java" >>   /tmp/dat
$ javac ReadingFiles.java
$ java ReadingFiles
hello
java
5 bytes: hello
2 bytes @ 6: ja
2 bytes @ 6: ja
5 bytes: hello

This example demonstrates various methods of reading files in Java, including reading entire files, seeking to specific positions, using buffered readers, and handling potential exceptions. The Java I/O and NIO packages provide a rich set of tools for file manipulation, which can be used according to the specific needs of your application.