The system cannot find the path specified with FileWriter

Question

I have this code:

private static void saveMetricsToCSV(String fileName, double[] metrics) {
        try {
            FileWriter fWriter = new FileWriter(
                    System.getProperty("user.dir") + "\\output\\" +
                    fileTimestamp + "_" + fileDBSize + "-" + fileName + ".csv"
            );

            BufferedWriter csvFile = new BufferedWriter(fWriter);

            for(int i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
                for(int j = 0; j < 5; j++) {
                    csvFile.write(String.format("%,10f;", metrics[i+j]));
                }

                csvFile.write(System.getProperty("line.separator"));
            }

            csvFile.close();
        } catch(IOException e) {
            System.out.println(e.getMessage());
        }
    }

But I get this error:

C:\Users\Nazgulled\Documents\Workspace\Só Amigos\output\1274715228419_5000-List-ImportDatabase.csv (The system cannot find the path specified)

Any idea why?

I'm using NetBeans on Windows 7 if it matters...

Livable

does that path and file exist? – Spreadeagle

also minor point, it's generally good form to use Path.Combine() ... – Spreadeagle

No, but as I'm trying to write and not read, I thought the path/file would be created automatically... – Livable

Path.Combine probably isn't a great suggestion for Java :-). – Genvieve

Answer 1

In general, a non existent file will be created by Java only if the parent directory exists. You should check/create the directory tree:

  String filenameFullNoPath = fileTimestamp + "_"  + fileDBSize + "-" 
        + fileName + ".csv";
  File myFile =  new File(System.getProperty("user.dir")  + File.separator 
        + "output" + File.separator + filenameFullNoPath);
  File parentDir = myFile.getParentFile();
  if(! parentDir.exists()) 
      parentDir.mkdirs(); // create parent dir and ancestors if necessary
  // FileWriter does not allow to specify charset, better use this:
  Writer w = new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(myFile),charset);

Arreola

I think you may need to replace "myFile.getParent()" (which returns a String) with "myFile.getParentFile()". – Chesterfieldian

Answer 2

You can use getParentFile (Java Doc) to make sure that the parent directory exists. The following will check that the parent directory exists, and create it if it doesn't.

File myFile =  new File(fileName);
if(!myFile.getParentFile.exists()) {
     myFile.getParentFile.mkdirs();
}

Rodmun

Answer 3

I'd guess that the "output" directory doesn't exist. Try adding:

new File(System.getProperty("user.dir") + File.separator + "output").mkdir();

Genvieve