Make a File/Folder Hidden on Windows with Java

Question

I need to make files and folders hidden on both Windows and Linux. I know that appending a '.' to the front of a file or folder will make it hidden on Linux. How do I make a file or folder hidden on Windows?

Servais

Files.setAttribute(path, "dos:hidden", true, LinkOption.NOFOLLOW_LINKS);, via javacodeexamples.com/make-file-hidden-in-java-example/1065 – Council

Answer 1

For Java 6 and below,

You will need to use a native call, here is one way for windows

Runtime.getRuntime().exec("attrib +H myHiddenFile.java");

You should learn a bit about win32-api or Java Native.

Limpopo

"native" means you're running platform specific code. exec() fires up a DOS/Windows shell to execute a DOS/Windows program. – Heckle

what happens when this code is executed in Linux? Or how do I prevent it? – Montparnasse

Answer 2

The functionality that you desire is a feature of NIO.2 in the upcoming Java 7.

Here's an article describing how will it be used for what you need: Managing Metadata (File and File Store Attributes). There's an example with DOS File Attributes:

Path file = ...;
try {
    DosFileAttributes attr = Attributes.readDosFileAttributes(file);
    System.out.println("isReadOnly is " + attr.isReadOnly());
    System.out.println("isHidden is " + attr.isHidden());
    System.out.println("isArchive is " + attr.isArchive());
    System.out.println("isSystem is " + attr.isSystem());
} catch (IOException x) {
    System.err.println("DOS file attributes not supported:" + x);
}

Setting attributes can be done using DosFileAttributeView

Considering these facts, I doubt that there's a standard and elegant way to accomplish that in Java 6 or Java 5.

Potsherd

Answer 3

Java 7 can hide a DOS file this way:

Path path = Paths.get("...");
Files.setAttribute(path, "dos:hidden", Boolean.TRUE, LinkOption.NOFOLLOW_LINKS);

Earlier Java versions don't have an API for this.

The above code will not throw an exception on non-DOS file systems. If the name of the file starts with a period, then it will be a hidden on UNIX file systems.

Overset

The method getAttribute(String, LinkOption) is undefined for the type java.nio.file.Path (JDK 7u13) – Hardwood

Antonio, it must have been that way in the draft version of Java 7 that I used. I see that similar functionality is now in java.nio.file.Files. – Overset

You can use Files.setAttribute that will accept a Path to set the attribute on. – Ammonia

Answer 4

this is what I use:

void hide(File src) throws InterruptedException, IOException {
    // win32 command line variant
    Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("attrib +h " + src.getPath());
    p.waitFor(); // p.waitFor() important, so that the file really appears as hidden immediately after function exit.
}

Charleton

Answer 5

on windows, using java nio, Files

Path path = Paths.get(..); //< input target path
Files.write(path, data_byte, StandardOpenOption.CREATE_NEW); //< if file not exist, create 
Files.setAttribute(path, "dos:hidden", Boolean.TRUE, LinkOption.NOFOLLOW_LINKS); //< set hidden attribute

Vouge

Please add a description of how the code you posted addresses the user's question – Holliman

Answer 6

Here is a fully compilable Java 7 code sample which hides an arbitrary file on Windows.

import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.nio.file.attribute.DosFileAttributes;


class A { 
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
    { 
       //locate the full path to the file e.g. c:\a\b\Log.txt
       Path p = Paths.get("c:\\a\\b\\Log.txt");

       //link file to DosFileAttributes
       DosFileAttributes dos = Files.readAttributes(p, DosFileAttributes.class);

       //hide the Log file
       Files.setAttribute(p, "dos:hidden", true);

       System.out.println(dos.isHidden());

    }
 } 

To check the file is hidden. Right-click on the file in question and you will see after the execution of the court that the file in question is truly hidden.

Deltoro

Answer 7

String cmd1[] = {"attrib","+h",file/folder path};
Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd1);

Use this code it might solve you problem

Oribel