Writing to a file using a byte stream

Question

I'm trying to write a series of 10000 random integers to a text file using a byte stream, however once I open the text file up it has a collection of random characters which seemingly have little to do with the integer values I want to be shown. I'm new to this form of stream, I'm guessing that the integer values are being taken as byte values, but I can't think of a way to get round this.

My current attempt...

import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Random;


public class Question1ByteStream {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

        FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("ByteStream.txt");

        try {
            for(int i = 0; i < 10000; i ++){
                Integer randomNumber = randInt(0, 100000);
                int by = randomNumber.byteValue();
                out.write(by);
            }
        }finally{
            if (out != null) {
                out.close();
            }
        }
    }

    public static int randInt(int min, int max) {
        Random rand = new Random();
        int randomNum = rand.nextInt((max - min) + 1) + min;

        return randomNum;
    }
}

Apologies if this lacks clarity.

If it's text file you should write (by) out as a string! – Tony Hopkinson May 11 '14 at 15:00 — Tony Hopkinson, May 11 '14 at 15:00

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 11 '14 at 15:01

It's because the numbers that you write are not written as strings into the txt but as raw byte value. 
Try the following code:

  BufferedWriter writer = null;
    try {
        writer = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter("./output.txt"));
        writer.write(yourRandomNumberOfTypeInteger.toString());
    } catch (IOException e) {
        System.err.println(e);
    } finally {
        if (writer != null) {
            try {
                writer.close();
            } catch (IOException e) {
                System.err.println(e);
            }
        }
    }

Or, if referring to your original code, write the Integer directly:
try {
            for(int i = 0; i < 10000; i ++){
                Integer randomNumber = randInt(0, 100000);
                out.write(randomNumber.toString());
            }
        }finally{
            if (out != null) {
                out.close();
            }
        }

the **BufferedWritter** puts everything you send into it into a buffer, it works same as a stream when it comes to string files (not binary ones) so it meets your needs as long as you want to write the numbers in the string format into the txt file. — RedCH, May 11 '14 at 15:16

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 11 '14 at 15:04

dont do like below(writing in the form of byte characters)

 for(int i = 0; i < 10000; i ++){
                Integer randomNumber = randInt(0, 100000);
                int by = randomNumber.byteValue();
                out.write(by);
}

write it in the form of string as it is a text file

 for(int i = 0; i < 10000; i ++){
                Integer randomNumber = randInt(0, 100000);

                out.write(randomNumber);
}

automatically toString() method will be called for Integer Object randomNumber and it will be written to file.

Writing to a file using a byte stream

2 Answers2