Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!newsfeed.hal-mli.net!feeder3.hal-mli.net!newsfeed.hal-mli.net!feeder1.hal-mli.net!de-l.enfer-du-nord.net!feeder1.enfer-du-nord.net!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.programmer
Subject: Re: A strange behaviour of a File property
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2011 20:38:55 -0500
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 43
Message-ID: <j9kion$7o7$1@dont-email.me>
References: <5980efbc-9010-4145-b886-fe106c5ac2d5@c18g2000yqj.googlegroups.com> <slrnjbqj37.fvg.avl@gamma.logic.tuwien.ac.at>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Injection-Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2011 01:39:35 +0000 (UTC)
Injection-Info: mx04.eternal-september.org; posting-host="HSlJAUb3pGXi3i7ZL/HoAw"; logging-data="7943"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18ytMB5XhX2CSo9aHo+AX2y"
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:8.0) Gecko/20111105 Thunderbird/8.0
In-Reply-To: <slrnjbqj37.fvg.avl@gamma.logic.tuwien.ac.at>
Cancel-Lock: sha1:oXmEESkh5S2u6F6ROCe+sZMqDWk=
Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.java.programmer:9864

On 11/11/2011 11:25 AM, Andreas Leitgeb wrote:
> alelvb@inwind.it<alelvb@inwind.it>  wrote:
>> public class Main {
>>     public static void main(String[] args){
>>        File f = new File(".");        // try to change the path
>
> ...
>
>>        for(int i=0; i<content.length; i++){
>>            file_array[i] = new File("." + "\\" + content[i]);
>
> First of all, did you change the path also here?
>     or better: define a variable and use it in both spots.
>
> Second, hardcoding "\\" is the worst approach at assembling a
>    file name from components.  See the docu for File class for
>    a static field that contains the appropriate separator char
>    for the current platform.  For test code, "/" is often good
>    enough (even on Windows).

     Even better is to forgo the silly string-bashing and let File
figure it out:

	File parentDir = ...;
	File childFile = new File(parentDir, "child");

IMHO, Java errs in exposing any "path separator" at all, because
it just encourages string-bashing.  Note that in some file systems
there is no such thing as a "path separator;" on one such I had
files with names like

	SYS$DISK:[USERS.ERIC.PROJECT]README.TXT;22

... and even this example doesn't show the full glory(?) of the syntax,
which could also supply host names, user names, and passwords -- all
as part of what a File *ought* to be able to manage.

     (In the O.P.'s specific case, using listFiles() instead of list()
would simplify things a good deal.)

-- 
Eric Sosman
esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid