Java BufferedWriter object with utf-8

Question

I have the following code and I want to make the outputstream use utf-8. Basically I have characters like é that appear as é so it looks like an encoding issue.

I've seen lots of examples that use...

OutputStreamWriter out = new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(path),"UTF-8");

My current code though is...

BufferedWriter out = new 
BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(DatabaseProps.fileLocation + "Output.xml"));

Is it possible to define this object as UTF-8 without having to use the OutputStreamWriter?

Thanks,

Or better, why can't you use an XML serializer? And if you are using an XML serializer, why aren't you letting it handle the encoding? — parsifal
– parsifal, Commented Aug 9, 2011 at 16:36

Mavaddat Javid · Accepted Answer · 2023-12-12 14:40:52Z

153

No. FileWriter doesn't let you specify the encoding, which is extremely annoying. It always uses the system default encoding. Just suck it up and use OutputStreamWriter wrapping a FileOutputStream. You can still wrap the OutputStreamWriter in a BufferedWriter of course:

BufferedWriter out = new BufferedWriter
    (new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(path), StandardCharsets.UTF_8));

Or, as of Java 8:

BufferedWriter out = Files.newBufferedWriter(Paths.get(path));

(Of course, you could change your system default encoding to UTF-8, but that seems a bit of an extreme measure.)

edited Dec 12, 2023 at 14:40

Mavaddat Javid

71610 silver badges24 bronze badges

answered Aug 9, 2011 at 15:43

Jon Skeet

1.5m893 gold badges9.3k silver badges9.3k bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

6 Comments

David Over a year ago

Hmm, I did that but I still get é for é. Does that mean the issue is earlier in the stack? In the db it's stored as é but when I connect with jdbc:sqlserver://...... it writes the found field as é in my file. The string is not intentionally being changed in anyway.

Jon Skeet Over a year ago

@david99world: It's not clear what you mean, but nothing in the code you've shown is going to be creating XML/HTML entities for you. It does indeed sound like the problem is somewhere else. I'm sure you'll already have the é in your string before you write it to the buffered writer.

toto2 Over a year ago

The problem might that the program you are using to read your file is not configured for utf-8.

David Over a year ago

Ah, thank you very much, I wasn't aware this had to be configured at read as well as write, thank you :)

Jon Skeet Over a year ago

@Chris: Well these days I'd just use Files.newBufferedWriter - no need for a third party lib.

|

Eugene Chipachenko · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-20 07:30:41Z

You can use improved FileWriter, improved by me.

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
import java.nio.charset.Charset;

/**
 * Created with IntelliJ IDEA.
 * User: Eugene Chipachenko
 * Date: 20.09.13
 * Time: 10:21
 */
public class BufferedFileWriter extends OutputStreamWriter
{
  public BufferedFileWriter( String fileName ) throws IOException
  {
    super( new FileOutputStream( fileName ), Charset.forName( "UTF-8" ) );
  }

  public BufferedFileWriter( String fileName, boolean append ) throws IOException
  {
    super( new FileOutputStream( fileName, append ), Charset.forName( "UTF-8" ) );
  }

  public BufferedFileWriter( String fileName, String charsetName, boolean append ) throws IOException
  {
    super( new FileOutputStream( fileName, append ), Charset.forName( charsetName ) );
  }

  public BufferedFileWriter( File file ) throws IOException
  {
    super( new FileOutputStream( file ), Charset.forName( "UTF-8" ) );
  }

  public BufferedFileWriter( File file, boolean append ) throws IOException
  {
    super( new FileOutputStream( file, append ), Charset.forName( "UTF-8" ) );
  }

  public BufferedFileWriter( File file, String charsetName, boolean append ) throws IOException
  {
    super( new FileOutputStream( file, append ), Charset.forName( charsetName ) );
  }
}

Richard Campbell · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-09 15:46:44Z

3

As the documentation for FileWriter explains,

The constructors of this class assume that the default character encoding and the default byte-buffer size are acceptable. To specify these values yourself, construct an OutputStreamWriter on a FileOutputStream.

There's no reason you can't construct your BufferedWriter on top of the OutputStreamWriter though.

answered Aug 9, 2011 at 15:46

Richard Campbell

3,63126 silver badges18 bronze badges

Comments

Pijush · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-20 14:59:25Z

1

Use the method, Files.newBufferedWriter(Path path, Charset cs, OpenOption... options)

As requested by Toby, here is the sample code.

String errorFileName = (String) exchange.getIn().getHeader(HeaderKey.ERROR_FILE_NAME.getKey());
        String errorPathAndFile = dir + "/" + errorFileName;
        writer = Files.newBufferedWriter(Paths.get(errorPathAndFile),  StandardCharsets.UTF_8, StandardOpenOption.CREATE_NEW);
        try {
            writer.write(MESSAGE_HEADER + "\n");
        } finally {
            writer.close();
        }

edited Jul 20, 2018 at 14:59

answered Jul 4, 2018 at 12:10

Pijush

4445 silver badges6 bronze badges

1 Comment

Toby Speight Over a year ago

While this might be a valuable hint to solve the problem, a good answer also demonstrates the solution. Please edit to provide example code to show what you mean. Alternatively, consider writing this as a comment instead.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Java BufferedWriter object with utf-8

4 Answers 4

6 Comments

Comments

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

4 Answers 4

6 Comments

Comments

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related