can't access a file directory

Question

This might be really nooby, but I'm trying to access a file directory so I can load all the images in it. For some reason when I input a file directory such as "/Images" it comes out as "\Images" when I create a new file and Windows can't find the directory because it's a backslash...

Code:

private final String imgDir =  "/Images";

File dir = new File(imgDir);

System.out.println(imgDir);
System.out.println(dir);

File[] files = dir.listFiles(new FilenameFilter() {
  public boolean accept(File dir, String fname) {
     return fname.endsWith(".png") || fname.endsWith(".bmp") || fname.endsWith(".jpg");
  }
});

the print outputs are "/Images" and "\Images" respectively. files always comes out null because the dir is wrong. Any ideas why this could be?

EDIT: Ok I got it to work. You guys were all right that I needed to used a relative path, but since it was IN the src folder I just needed to make it ".\src\Images" :D Is it bad practice to do this? Should I just move the Images folder to the root project directory?

Can you do list (ls / dir) and show the directory structure you are accessing. — Subir Kumar Sao, Jun 29 '12 at 04:31
it's a folder called "Images" right inside the src folder of the project — Mike, Jun 29 '12 at 05:08
I was guessing so. You are giving path as /Images ie absolute path. You should try "Images" directly or "./Image". — Subir Kumar Sao, Jun 29 '12 at 05:11
It doesn't seem to make a difference if I do "./Image". What does adding the period do? — Mike, Jun 29 '12 at 05:27

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 29 '12 at 04:19

2

Try composing your string using File.separator instead of explicit slashes, for example: private final String imgDir = File.separator + "Images".

answered Jun 29 '12 at 04:19

Turix

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If I use File.separator both imgDir and dir are "\Images" but files is still null – Mike Jun 29 '12 at 04:27
Is "\Images" supposed to be an absolute or a relative path? Perhaps you want ".\Images"? – Turix Jun 29 '12 at 04:41

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 29 '12 at 06:21

Windows can't find the directory because it's a backslash

That's not the reason. Windows uses backslash itself.

files always comes out null because the dir is wrong.

That would do it, for example if as per your comments you meant ./Images but you actually coded /Images.

can't access a file directory

2 Answers2