Renaming a CSV file from data.csv to timestamp_data.csv using filewriter

Question

Hello Java experts here is my question. I currently have a code that runs some queries and outputs the data into a csv file. It currently outputs it into my desktop and saves the files.

as you can see

//csv printer
PrintWriter pw = null;
try {

    pw = new PrintWriter(new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter("C:\\Users\\JChoi\\Desktop\\new Date().getTime() + data.csv")));
} catch (Exception e) {
    System.out.println("I could not open the output csv file, see stacktrace below:");
    e.printStackTrace();
}

although it printed the file, the file just came out to say "new Date().getTime()data.csv"

i guess im missing a step in setting the date and time. ultimately i want to get it so that when i run this file, i will get a new csv file with today's date and current time on the file. Thanks

EDIT: SOLVED

Date dNow = new Date( );
SimpleDateFormat timeStamp = 
new SimpleDateFormat ("yyyy-MM-dd");

//csv printer
PrintWriter pw = null;
try {
    pw = new PrintWriter(new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter("C:\\Users\\JChoi\\Desktop\\google api csv outputs\\" + timeStamp.format(dNow) +"_data.csv")));
}

thanks all

MadProgrammer · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-27 19:58:02Z

1

Basically

new FileWriter("C:\\Users\\JChoi\\Desktop\\new Date().getTime() + data.csv")));

Is creating a String literal (literally, making the text between the quotes what you type)

What you need to do is some variable/String concatenation, for example...

new FileWriter("C:\\Users\\JChoi\\Desktop\\" + new Date().getTime() + "data.csv")));

You should note, Date#getTime will return the number of milliseconds since the Unix epoch as a long. As such, you might want to consider using some kind of DateFormat to format the value into a more human readable format

answered May 27, 2014 at 19:58

MadProgrammer

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2 Comments

zomdar Over a year ago

thanks for the response. so when i type in the new code i get an error that says "date cannot be resolved to type" could that be because i didnt define date()?

MadProgrammer Over a year ago

So you forget to import java.util.Date

Kasper Ziemianek · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-27 20:08:11Z

0

The statement

new FileWriter("C:\\Users\\JChoi\\Desktop\\new Date().getTime() + data.csv")

Cretes file with name "C:\Users\JChoi\Desktop\new Date().getTime() + data.csv"

If you want to put actual date to file name, you should concat Strings like

new FileWriter("C:\\Users\\JChoi\\Desktop\\"+new Date().getTime() + +"data.csv")

answered May 27, 2014 at 20:08

Kasper Ziemianek

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1 Comment

zomdar Over a year ago

thanks for the response. so when i type in the new code i get an error that says "date cannot be resolved to type" could that be because i didnt define date()?

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