Java open file for append

Before we append text to an existing file, we assume we have a file named test. In the above program, we use System 's user. Check Java Program to get the current directory for more information. Likewise, the text to be added is stored in the variable text. Then, inside a try-catch block we use Files ' write method to append text to the existing file.

The write method takes the path of the given file, the text to the written, and how the file should be open for writing.

Since the write method may return an IOException , we use a try-catch block to catch the exception properly. In the above program, instead of using write method, we use an instance object FileWriter to append text to an existing file. When creating a FileWriter object, we pass the path of the file and true as the second parameter.

Then, we use write method to append the given text and close the filewriter. Course Index Explore Programiz. Java for Loop. Arrays in Java. Interfaces in Java. Java ArrayList. Popular Examples Check prime number. Article Contributed By :. Easy Normal Medium Hard Expert.

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Start Your Coding Journey Now! I need to append text repeatedly to an existing file in Java. How do I do that? Improve this question. Steve Chambers Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. If the file does not exist, it will be created.

Using a BufferedWriter is recommended for an expensive writer such as FileWriter. Using a PrintWriter gives you access to println syntax that you're probably used to from System. But the BufferedWriter and PrintWriter wrappers are not strictly necessary.

Improve this answer. Dave Jarvis Kip Kip k 85 85 gold badges silver badges bronze badges. You should either use java7 try-with-resources or put the close in a finally block, in order to make sure that the file is closed in case of exception — Svetlin Zarev. Lets imagine that new BufferedWriter Caution, the "Older java" example will not properly close the stream if an exception is thrown inside the try block.

A couple of possible "gotchas" with the Java 7 method: 1 If the file doesn't already exist, StandardOpenOption. Have added an alternative answer to address these. SteveChambers Thanks for the input. I couldn't believe that append mode does not create the file if it does not exist, so I had to try it to confirm. Not sure what they were thinking there I've updated my answer to reflect these issues and I added a link to your answer. Show 14 more comments.

You can use fileWriter with a flag set to true , for appending. Good answer, although its better to use System. Decoded I've rolled back your edit on this answer, as it does not compile. Kip, What was the issue?

I must have entered a "typo". How bout try-with-resources? Show 1 more comment. When out goes out of scope, it is automatically closed when it gets garbage-collected, right? The Java 7 solution is pretty slick! I haven't been doing any Java dev since Java 6, so I was unfamiliar with that change. Kip Nope, going out-of-scope does nothing in Java. The file will get closed at some random time in the future.

Using Apache Commons 2. Oh, thank you. I was amused by the complexity of all other answers. I really do not get why people like to complicate their developer life. The problem with this approach is that it opens and closes the output stream every single time. Depending on what and how often you write to your file, this could result in a ridiculous overhead. Buffalo is right. But you can always use StringBuilder for building large chunks that are worth writing before writing them to file.

KonstantinK but then all the content you need to write is loaded into memory. Steve Chambers Steve Chambers Do you need to check if the file exists? I thought. CREATE is used when the file already exists it silently fails to append anything - no exception is thrown but the existing file contents remain unchanged. Make sure the stream gets properly closed in all scenarios. Community Bot 1 1 1 silver badge. Emily L.

Here is good question about this tricky theme: stackoverflow.