W3cubDocs

/OpenJDK 21

Interface FileVisitor<T>

Type Parameters:
T - the type of file/directory
All Known Implementing Classes:
SimpleFileVisitor
public interface FileVisitor<T>
A visitor of files. An implementation of this interface is provided to the Files.walkFileTree methods to visit each file in a file tree.

Usage Examples: Suppose we want to delete a file tree. In that case, each directory should be deleted after the entries in the directory are deleted.

    Path start = ...
    Files.walkFileTree(start, new SimpleFileVisitor<Path>() {
        @Override
        public FileVisitResult visitFile(Path file, BasicFileAttributes attrs)
            throws IOException
        {
            Files.delete(file);
            return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
        }
        @Override
        public FileVisitResult postVisitDirectory(Path dir, IOException e)
            throws IOException
        {
            if (e == null) {
                Files.delete(dir);
                return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
            } else {
                // directory iteration failed
                throw e;
            }
        }
    });

Furthermore, suppose we want to copy a file tree to a target location. In that case, symbolic links should be followed and the target directory should be created before the entries in the directory are copied.

    final Path source = ...
    final Path target = ...

    Files.walkFileTree(source, EnumSet.of(FileVisitOption.FOLLOW_LINKS), Integer.MAX_VALUE,
        new SimpleFileVisitor<Path>() {
            @Override
            public FileVisitResult preVisitDirectory(Path dir, BasicFileAttributes attrs)
                throws IOException
            {
                Path targetdir = target.resolve(source.relativize(dir));
                try {
                    Files.copy(dir, targetdir);
                } catch (FileAlreadyExistsException e) {
                     if (!Files.isDirectory(targetdir))
                         throw e;
                }
                return CONTINUE;
            }
            @Override
            public FileVisitResult visitFile(Path file, BasicFileAttributes attrs)
                throws IOException
            {
                Files.copy(file, target.resolve(source.relativize(file)));
                return CONTINUE;
            }
        });
Since:
1.7

Method Summary

Modifier and Type Method Description
FileVisitResult postVisitDirectory(T dir, IOException exc)
Invoked for a directory after entries in the directory, and all of their descendants, have been visited.
FileVisitResult preVisitDirectory(T dir, BasicFileAttributes attrs)
Invoked for a directory before entries in the directory are visited.
FileVisitResult visitFile(T file, BasicFileAttributes attrs)
Invoked for a file in a directory.
FileVisitResult visitFileFailed(T file, IOException exc)
Invoked for a file that could not be visited.

Method Details

preVisitDirectory

FileVisitResult preVisitDirectory(T dir, BasicFileAttributes attrs) throws IOException
Invoked for a directory before entries in the directory are visited.

If this method returns CONTINUE, then entries in the directory are visited. If this method returns SKIP_SUBTREE or SKIP_SIBLINGS then entries in the directory (and any descendants) will not be visited.

Parameters:
dir - a reference to the directory
attrs - the directory's basic attributes
Returns:
the visit result
Throws:
IOException - if an I/O error occurs

visitFile

FileVisitResult visitFile(T file, BasicFileAttributes attrs) throws IOException
Invoked for a file in a directory.
Parameters:
file - a reference to the file
attrs - the file's basic attributes
Returns:
the visit result
Throws:
IOException - if an I/O error occurs

visitFileFailed

FileVisitResult visitFileFailed(T file, IOException exc) throws IOException
Invoked for a file that could not be visited. This method is invoked if the file's attributes could not be read, the file is a directory that could not be opened, and other reasons.
Parameters:
file - a reference to the file
exc - the I/O exception that prevented the file from being visited
Returns:
the visit result
Throws:
IOException - if an I/O error occurs

postVisitDirectory

FileVisitResult postVisitDirectory(T dir, IOException exc) throws IOException
Invoked for a directory after entries in the directory, and all of their descendants, have been visited. This method is also invoked when iteration of the directory completes prematurely (by a visitFile method returning SKIP_SIBLINGS, or an I/O error when iterating over the directory).
Parameters:
dir - a reference to the directory
exc - null if the iteration of the directory completes without an error; otherwise the I/O exception that caused the iteration of the directory to complete prematurely
Returns:
the visit result
Throws:
IOException - if an I/O error occurs

© 1993, 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Documentation extracted from Debian's OpenJDK Development Kit package.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2, with the Classpath Exception.
Various third party code in OpenJDK is licensed under different licenses (see Debian package).
Java and OpenJDK are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/21/docs/api/java.base/java/nio/file/FileVisitor.html