Java IO Tutorial

Java IO Tutorial — tutorials.jenkov.com — Readability

Java IO Tutorial

Read Later

by Jakob Jenkov

•

		Share on Facebook1
By Jakob Jenkov2

Connect with me:

Most applications need to process some input and produce some output based on that input.
The purpose of the Java IO package (java.io) is to make that possible in Java.

If you look at the Java IO classes in the java.io package the vast amount
of choices can be rather confusing. What is the purpose of all these classes? Which one
should you choose for a given task? How do you create your own classes to plugin? etc.
The purpose of this tutorial is to try to give you an overview of how all these classes
are grouped, and the purpose behind them, so you don't have to wonder whether you chose
the right class, or whether a class already exists for your purpose.

The Scope of the Java IO (java.io) Package

The java.io package doesn't actually address all types of input and output.
For instance, input from and output to a GUI or web page is not covered in the Java IO package.
Those types of input are covered elsewhere, for instance by the JFC classes in the Swing project,
or the Servlet and HTTP packages in the Java Enterprise Edition.

The Java IO package is primarily focused on input and output to files, network streams, internal memory
buffers etc.

More Java IO Tools, Tips etc.

The tutorial trail called Java How To's and Utilities³ also contain
a few Java IO utilities - e.g. replacing strings in streams, iterating streams using buffers etc.