The Path and Files Classes

• The Path class creates objects that contain information about files and directories, such as sizes, locations, creation dates, and is used to check whether a file or directory exists.
• The Files class performs operation on files and directories, such as determining their attributes, creating input and output streams, and deleting them.
• To use both the Path and Files classes, add the following statement.

  import java.nio.file.*;
• To create and define a Path, use Paths class and its get() method.

  Example: Path filePath = Paths.get("C:\\Java\\Chapter8\\sample.txt")
• A absolute path is a complete path; it does not require any other information to locate a file on a system.
• Example of absolute file: C:\Java\Chapter8\sample.txt
• A relative path depends on other path information
• Examples of relative path: sample.txt, Chapter8\sample.txt, Java\Chapter8.
• To convert a relative path to an absolute path, the toAbsolutePath() method is used.
• To verify if a file exists and if a program can access it when needed, the checkAccess() method is used.
• The delete() method of the Files class accepts a Path parameter and removes the last element (file or directory) in a path or throws an exception if the deletion is unsuccessful.
• file does not exists = NoSuchFileException
• attempt to delete = DirectoryNotEmptyException
• attempt to delete without permission = SecurityException
• other input/output error cause IOException
• deleteIfExists() - remove a file without encountering an exception if the file does not exists.
• readAttributes() - To retrieve useful information.
• readAttributes() returns an instance of the BasicFileAttributes.class.
• Example of readAttributes():

  BasicFileAttributes fileAtt = Files.readAttributes(filePath, BasicAttributes.class);
• size() = returns the size of a file
• creationTime() = returns the date and time
• Format of creationTime():

  yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss
• lastModifiedTime() = returns the time and date the file was last edited.
• compareTo() = compares relationship between values retrieved from creationTime() or lastModifiedTime().