[Chapter 11] FileOutputStream
Author: Mark Grand and Jonathan Knudsen
Date: Fri Aug 8 16:36:41 1997

#

| Chapter 11 The java.io Package |

# FileOutputStream

## Name

FileOutputStream

## Synopsis

Class Name:

  `java.io.FileOutputStream`

Superclass:

  `java.io.OutputStream`

Immediate Subclasses:

  None

Interfaces Implemented:

  None

Availability:

  JDK 1.0 or later

## Description

The `FileOutputStream` class represents a byte stream that writes data to a file. The file can be specified using a `FileDescriptor`, a `File` object, or a `String` that represents a pathname. All of the constructors can throw a `SecurityException` if the application does not have permission to write to the specified file.

`FileOutputStream` provides a low-level interface for writing data to a file. Wrap a `FileOutputStream` with a `DataOutputStream` or a `PrintStream` if you need a higher-level interface that can handle writing strings and binary data. You should also think about wrapping a `FileOutputStream` with a `BufferedOutputStream` to increase writing efficiency.

Data must be written sequentially to a `FileOutputStream`; you can either overwrite existing data or append data to the end of the file. If you need random access to file data, use the `RandomAccessFile` class instead.

## Class Summary

    public class java.io.FileOutputStream extends java.io.OutputStream {
      // Constructors
      public FileOutputStream(String name);
      public FileOutputStream(String name, boolean append);     // New in 1.1
      public FileOutputStream(File file);
      public FileOutputStream(FileDescriptor fdObj);
      // Public Instance Methods
      public native void close();
      public final FileDescriptor getFD();
      public native void write(int b);
      public void write(byte[] b);
      public void write(byte[] b, int off, int len);
      // Protected Instance Methods
      protected void finalize();
    }

## Constructors

### FileOutputStream

#### public FileOutputStream(String name) throws IOException

Parameters

  `name`

    A `String` that contains the pathname of the file to be used for output. The path must conform to the requirements of the native operating system.

Throws

  `FileNotFoundException`

    If the named file cannot be found.

  `SecurityException`

    If the application does not have permission to write to the named file.

Description

  This constructor creates a `FileOutputStream` that sends its output to the file named by the specified `String`.

####

     public FileOutputStream(String name, boolean append) throws IOException

Availability

  New as of JDK 1.1

Parameters

  `name`

    A `String` that contains the pathname of the file to be used for output. The path must conform to the requirements of the native operating system.

  `append`

    Specifies whether or not data is appended to the output stream.

Throws

  `FileNotFoundException`

    If the named file cannot be found.

  `SecurityException`

    If the application does not have permission to write to the named file.

Description

  This constructor creates a `FileOutputStream` that sends its output to the named file. If `append` is `true`, the stream is positioned at the end of the file, and data is appended to the end of the file. Otherwise, if `append` is `false`, the stream is positioned at the beginning of the file, and any previous data is overwritten.

#### public FileOutputStream(File file) throws IOException

Parameters

  `file`

    The `File` to use as output.

Throws

  `FileNotFoundException`

    If the named file cannot be found.

  `SecurityException`

    If the application does not have permission to write to the named file.

Description

  This constructor creates a `FileOutputStream` that sends its output to the file represented by the specified `File`.

#### public FileOutputStream(FileDescriptor fdObj)

Parameters

  `fdObj`

    The `FileDescriptor` of the file to use as output.

Throws

  `SecurityException`

    If the application does not have permission to write to the specified file.

  `NullPointerException`

    If `FileDescriptor` is `null`.

Description

  This constructor creates a `FileOutputStream` that sends its output to the file identified by the given `FileDescriptor`.

## Public Instance Methods

### close

#### public native void close() throws IOException

Throws

  `IOException`

    If any kind of I/O error occurs.

Overrides

  `OutputStream.close()`

Description

  This method closes this file output stream and releases any resources used by it.

### getFD

#### public final FileDescriptor getFD() throws IOException

Throws

  `IOException`

    If there is no `FileDescriptor` associated with this object.

Description

  This method returns the file descriptor associated with the data source of this `FileOutputStream`.

### write

#### public native void write(int b) throws IOException

Parameters

  `b`

    The value to write to the stream.

Throws

  `IOException`

    If any kind of I/O error occurs.

Overrides

  `OutputStream.write(int)`

Description

  This method writes a byte containing the low-order eight bits of the given value to the output stream.

#### public void write(byte[] b) throws IOException

Parameters

  `b`

    An array of bytes to write to the stream.

Throws

  `IOException`

    If any kind of I/O error occurs.

Overrides

  `OutputStream.write(byte[])`

Description

  This method writes the entire contents of the given array to the output stream.

#### public void write(byte[] b, int off, int len) throws IOException

Parameters

  `b`

    An array of bytes to write to the stream.

  `off`

    An offset into the byte array.

  `len`

    The number of bytes to write.

Throws

  `IOException`

    If any kind of I/O error occurs.

Overrides

  `OutputStream.write(byte[], int, int)`

Description

  This method writes `len` bytes from the given array, starting at element `off`, to the output stream.

## Protected Instance Methods

### finalize

#### protected void finalize() throws IOException

Throws

  `IOException`

    If any kind of I/O error occurs.

Description

  This method is called when the `FileOutputStream` is garbage-collected to ensure that `close()` is called. If the stream has a valid file descriptor, the `close()` method is called to free the system resources used by this stream.

## Inherited Methods

Method | Inherited From | Method | Inherited From
--- | --- | --- | ---
`clone()` | `Object` | `equals(Object)` | `Object`
`flush()` | `OutputStream` | `getClass()` | `Object`
`hashCode()` | `Object` | `notify()` | `Object`
`notifyAll()` | `Object` | `toString()` | `Object`
`wait()` | `Object` | `wait(long)` | `Object`
`wait(long, int)` | `Object` |  |

## See Also

`BufferedOutputStream`, `DataOutputStream`, `File`, `FileDescriptor`, `FileNotFoundException`, `IOException`, `NullPointerException`, `OutputStream`, `PrintStream`, `RandomAccessFile`, `SecurityException`

FileNotFoundException |  | FileReader