deleting files from arraylist

[mrjoli021]

Why wont this delete the files in the arraylist. i checked the arraylist and the files are there. i even added a "\\" to the files and still nothing. i dont get any errors.

private void fileDelte ()
    {   
        for (int i =0; i<Files2Delete.size(); i++)
        {
            File f = new File(Files2Delete.get(i));
            f.delete();
            
        }
    }

[Ezzaral]

A few well-placed System.out.println() statements to verify what you are trying to delete would be a good place to start.

[dickersonka]

Definitely agree with ezzaral. Get your path, then println it, then call delete.

Also there are numerous things that could go wrong with file access/permissions. Make sure you either throw the exception or catch it and println it as well

[mrjoli021]

yes i already tried that, but my question is would the code work. i usually program with c# not java. so is my code above fine. basically does f.delete() is that the correct funtion to delete files in java?

[dickersonka]

short answer: yes (if you have permissions)

long answer: sort of, you can delete directories with this as well, but if its a directory thats not empty, it will not delete, ensure your files are not directories

[Ezzaral]

Yes, which is clearly documented here in the API . Those docs are your best friend if you plan on doing anything at all in Java.

[mrjoli021]

they are files no directories. just a list of files.

[regent_royal]

Are you adding directly file to arraylist or it's path???? If you have already added path as string in arraylist and then get this string via new File object then this one is right...

[mrjoli021]

i am adding a list of files like

c:\testing.txt
c:\whatever\testing2.txt
c:\something\else\testing3.txt

and so forth.

[dickersonka]

Are they List or List?

From what you described it sounds like file if so you can use this

Files2Delete.get(i).delete();

[dickersonka]

scratch my last post, you are adding strings

What does the println show you before the delete?

[mrjoli021]

it shows the files in the arraylist

c:\testing.txt
c:\whatever\testing2.txt
c:\something\else\testing3.txt

[mrjoli021]

complete code

private ArrayList<String> Files2Delete = new ArrayList<String>();
    private String fName = "c:\\TestFile.txt";
   
    public Files()
    {
        this.fileCollection();
        this.fileDelte();
    }
    
    private void fileCollection () 
    {
        try         
        {
            File file = new File(fName);
            Scanner in = new Scanner(file);

            while (in.hasNextLine())
            {
                String line = in.nextLine();
                Files2Delete.add(line);
            }
            in.close();
        }
        catch(Exception e)
        {
            String s = e.toString();
        }
    }
    
    private void fileDelte ()
    {   
        for (int i =0; i<Files2Delete.size(); i++)
        {
            File f = new File(Files2Delete.get(i));            
        }
    }

[mrjoli021]

in fileDelete()

inside the for loop after the File f statement i also have:
f.delte();

[regent_royal]

Ok just try for this...

c:\\testing.txt
c:\\whatever\\testing2.txt
c:\\something\\else\\testing3.txt

[dickersonka]

looks to be ok

are the files open and you have permissions to them?

[mrjoli021]

yes i have permission. it shouldnt matter,but i create blank files just for testing to make sure it actually deletes.

i am using XP pro SP3

[dickersonka]

ahhhh, when you create the files did you call the close() method?

[regent_royal]

Check this code...

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;

public class ArrayListFileExample {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
ArrayList objArrayList = new ArrayList();
String strFileName = "c://tempFileExample1.txt";
objArrayList.add(strFileName);
File f = new File(strFileName);
f.createNewFile();

strFileName = "c://tempFileExample2.txt";
objArrayList.add(strFileName);
f = new File(strFileName);
f.createNewFile();

strFileName = "c://tempFileExample3.txt";
objArrayList.add(strFileName);
f = new File(strFileName);
f.createNewFile();

// comment this part to check file is created or not.... after checking uncomment this file and check once again c: drive...
for(int i=0;i

[mrjoli021]

yes ur code works, but i already have a predefined list of files. i am not creating the files. the files are already there.