How do I insert a String variable into a file path?

Question

I want to be able to use a variable that can be changed within a file path. The username relevant to the file path is declared in the constructor then I have tried to assign this to the file path in the below method.

What I wanted to happen when calling:

System.out.format("%s%n", documentsPath.resolve(username +"\\Documents"));

Was that the documents Path would then be:

C:\Users\ryanb\Documents

Instead when I call documentsPath.toString() I only get returned:

C:\Users\

How do I get the documentsPath variable to be assigned with the String username and the "\\Documents" at the end.

This is my code:

 class profileCopy{

  /*global variables */
  private Path documentsPath;
  private Path desktopPath;
  private Path favoritesPath;
  private Path networkFolder;
  private String username;
  private String foldername;


  public profileCopy(String username, String foldername)
  {
    this.username = username;
    this.foldername = foldername;
    documentsPath = Paths.get("C:\\Users");
    desktopPath = Paths.get("C:\\Users");
    favoritesPath = Paths.get("C:\\Users");
    networkFolder = (Paths.get("F:\\Data\\WP51"));

  }

  public void copyDocumentsFolder() throws IOException
  { 
    Path newDir = Paths.get("C:\\Users\\ryanb\\Documents\\TestCopy");
    System.out.format("%s%n", documentsPath.resolve(username +"\\Documents"));
    System.out.format("%s%n", networkFolder.resolve(foldername + "\\Backup"));
    System.out.println(networkFolder.getFileName());
    Files.move(documentsPath, networkFolder.resolve(documentsPath.getFileName()));
    System.out.println(newDir.toString());   
  }

Duarte Amorim · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-04 12:56:58Z

3

The main point in order to your code doesn't work is that you don't re-assign the return value of resolve() method to your path variable, since the method returns a new object.

In order to build your Paths, you can use something like this:

documentsPath = Paths.get(string.format("C:\\Users\\%s\\%s", username, "Documents");

If you want to reuse some code, you can use an array of folders and create them:

List<Path> paths = new ArrayList();
String[] defaultFolders = {"Documents", "Desktop", "Music"};
foreach (folder : defaultFolders) {
paths.add(Path.get(string.format("C:\\Users\\%s\\%s", username, folder)));

PS: Since you're developing that in java, you should consider to make the Path's UNIX or Windows Compatible, since UNIX environments doensn't recognize the "C:/Users" path.

edited Aug 4, 2015 at 12:56

answered Aug 4, 2015 at 11:21

Duarte Amorim

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Flagman · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-04 11:21:59Z

1

The resolve methods returns a Path

public void copyDocumentsFolder() throws IOException
{
    Path newDir = Paths.get("C:\\Users\\ryanb\\Documents\\TestCopy");
    documentsPath = documentsPath.resolve(username + "\\Documents");
    networkFolder = networkFolder.resolve(foldername + "\\Backup");
    System.out.format("%s%n", documentsPath);
    System.out.format("%s%n", networkFolder);
    System.out.println(networkFolder.getFileName());
    Files.move(documentsPath, networkFolder.resolve(documentsPath.getFileName()));
    System.out.println(newDir.toString());
}

answered Aug 4, 2015 at 11:21

Flagman

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1 Comment

Roger Gustavsson Over a year ago

To clarify, documentsPath.resolve(...) returns a new Path object, leaving the original object untouched. It doesn't modify the object on which the method is called.

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