Streams and Input/Output

Files
Part I

1
 Introduction
 So far we have used variables and arrays for
storing data inside the programs. This approach
poses the following limitations:
 The data is lost when variable goes out of scope or when
the program terminates. That is data is stored in
temporary/mail memory is released when program
terminates.
 It is difficult to handle large volumes of data.
 We can overcome this problem by storing data on
secondary storage devices such as floppy or hard
disks.
 The data is stored in these devices using the
concept of Files and such data is often called
persistent data.
2
 File Processing
 Storing and manipulating data using files
is known as file processing.
 Reading/Writing of data in a file can be
performed at the level of bytes,
characters, or fields depending on
application requirements.
 Java also provides capabilities to read and
write class objects directly. The process of
reading and writing objects is called
object serialisation.
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 C Input/Output Revision

FILE* fp;

fp = fopen(“In.file”, “rw”);
fscanf(fp, ……);
frpintf(fp, …..);
fread(………, fp);
fwrite(……….., fp);

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 I/O and Data Movement
 The flow of data into a
program (input) may come
from different devices such
as keyboard, mouse,
memory, disk, network, or
another program.
 The flow of data out of a
program (output) may go to
the screen, printer, memory,
disk, network, another
program.
 Both input and output share
a certain common property
such as unidirectional
movement of data – a
sequence of bytes and
characters and support to the
sequential access to the
data.

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 Streams
 Java Uses the concept of
Streams to represent the
ordered sequence of data,
a common characteristic
shared by all I/O devices.
 Streams presents a
uniform, easy to use,
object oriented interface
between the program and
I/O devices.
 A stream in Java is a path
along which data flows
(like a river or pipe along
which water flows).

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 Stream Types
 The concepts of
sending data from Input Stream
one stream to another reads
(like a pipe feeding Source Program
into another pipe) has
made streams
powerful tool for file Output Stream
processing.
Program Source
 Connecting streams writes
can also act as filters.
 Streams are classified
into two basic types:

Input Steam

Output Stream

7
 Java Stream Classes
 Input/Output related classes are
defined in java.io package.
 Input/Output in Java is defined in terms
of streams.
 A stream is a sequence of data, of no
particular length.
 Java classes can be categorised into
two groups based on the data type one
which they operate:

Byte streams

Character Streams

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 Streams

Byte Streams Character streams

Operated on 8 bit Operates on 16-bit

9
Classification of Java Stream
Classes

Byte Stream Character Stream

10
 Byte Input Streams

InputStream
ObjectInputStream
SequenceInputStream
ByteArrayInputStream
PipedInputStream

FilterInputStream

PushbackInputStream

DataInputStrea BufferedInputStre
m am
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 Byte Input Streams -
operations
public abstract int Reads a byte and returns
read() as a integer 0-255
public int read(byte[] Reads and stores the
buf, int offset, int count) bytes in buf starting at
offset. Count is the
maximum read.
public int read(byte[] Same as previous
buf) offset=0 and
length=buf.length()
public long skip(long Skips count bytes.
count)
public int available() Returns the number of
bytes that can be read. 12
Byte Input Stream - example
 Count total number of bytes in the file

import java.io.*;

class CountBytes {
public static void main(String[] args)
throws FileNotFoundException, IOException
{
FileInputStream in;
in = new FileInputStream(“InFile.txt”);

int total = 0;
while (in.read() != -1)
total++;
System.out.println(total + “ bytes”);
}
}
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What happens if the file did not
exist
 JVM throws exception and terminates the program
since there is no exception handler defined.

c:/ java CountBytes

Exception in thread "main"

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 Byte Output Streams

OutputStream
ObjectOutputStream
SequenceOutputStream
ByteArrayOutputStream
PipedOutputStream

FilterOutputStream

PrintStream

DataOutputStre BufferedOutputStrea
am m
15
 Byte Output Streams -
operations
public abstract void Write b as bytes.
write(int b)
public void write(byte[] Write count bytes
buf, int offset, int count) starting from offset in
buf.
public void write(byte[] Same as previous
buf) offset=0 and count =
buf.length()
public void flush() Flushes the stream.
public void close() Closes stream

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Byte Output Stream - example
 Read from standard in and write to standard out

import java.io.*;

class ReadWrite {
public static void main(string[] args)
throws IOException
{
int b;
while (( b = System.in.read()) != -1)
{
System.out.write(b);
}

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 Summary
 Streams provide uniform interface
for managing I/O operations in Java
irrespective of device types.
 Java supports classes for handling
Input Steams and Output steams via
java.io package.
 Exceptions supports handling of
errors and their propagation during
file operations.

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