View Category
Files
Reading

Read the contents of a file into a string

python
contents = open('myFile.txt', 'rt').read()
clojure
(slurp "/tmp/foobar")
erlang
Text = readfile("Solution607.erl"),
Text = readfile("Solution608.erl"),
java
String text = FileUtils.readFileToString(new File("Solution109.java"), "UTF-8");
RandomAccessFile raf = null; byte[] buffer; String text = null;

try
{
raf = new RandomAccessFile("Solution399.java", "r");
buffer = new byte[(int)raf.length()]; raf.read(buffer);
text = new String(buffer);
}

Process a file one line at a time

Open the source file to your solution and print each line in the file, prefixed by the line number, like:
1> First line of file
2> Second line of file
3> Third line of file
python
for no, line in enumerate(open(__file__)):
print "{0}> {1}".format(no+1, line.rstrip())
clojure
(defn read-line-by-line [fn]
(reduce str (map (partial format "%d> %s\n")
(iterate inc 1)
(read-lines fn))))
erlang
Reader = fun (IODevice) -> io:get_line(IODevice, "") end,
Worker = fun (Line, N) -> io:format("~B> ~s", [N, Line]), N + 1 end,

while_not_eof("Solution609.erl", Reader, Worker, 1).
Reader = fun (Filename) -> {ok, Contents} = file:read_file(Filename), Contents end,
Transformer = fun (Line, N) -> string:concat(string:concat(integer_to_list(N), "> "), Line) end,
Printer = fun (Line) -> io:format("~s~n", [Line]) end,

Lines = string:tokens(binary_to_list(Reader("Solution610.erl")), "\n"),
NewLines = lists:zipwith(Transformer, Lines, lists:seq(1, length(Lines))),
lists:foreach(Printer, NewLines).
java
BufferedReader br = null;
try {
br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("Solution104.java"));
String line = null;
int lineNumber = 1;
while ((line=br.readLine())!=null) {
System.out.println(lineNumber + "> " + line);
lineNumber++;
}
} catch (IOException e) {
throw new RuntimeException(e);
} finally {
if (br!=null) {
try {
br.close();
} catch (Exception e) {
// ok
}
}
}
LineNumberReader lnr = null; PrintWriter pw = null; String line;

try
{
lnr = new LineNumberReader(new FileReader("Solution400.java"));
pw = new PrintWriter(System.out);
while ((line = lnr.readLine()) != null) pw.printf("%d> %s\n", lnr.getLineNumber(), line);
}
Writing

Write a string to a file

python
open('test.txt', 'wt').write('Hello World!')
clojure
(with-out-writer "output.txt" (println "Hello file!"))
erlang
Line = "This line overwites file contents!\n",
{ok, IODevice} = file:open("test.txt", [write]), file:write(IODevice, Line), file:close(IODevice).
java
FileWriter fw = null;

try
{
fw = new FileWriter("test.txt");
fw.write("This line overwites file contents!");
}
PrintWriter pw = null;

try
{
pw = new PrintWriter(new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter("test.txt")));
pw.print("This line overwites file contents!");
}

Append to a file

python
open('test.txt', 'at').write('Hello World!\n')
clojure
(with-out-append-writer "output.txt" (println "This is appended to the file"))
erlang
Line = "This line appended to file!\n",
{ok, IODevice} = file:open("test.txt", [append]), file:write(IODevice, Line), file:close(IODevice).
java
FileWriter fw = null;

try
{
fw = new FileWriter("test.txt", true);
fw.write("This line appended to file!");
}
PrintWriter pw = null;

try
{
pw = new PrintWriter(new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter("test.txt", true)));
pw.print("This line appended to file!");
}
Directories

Process each file in a directory

python
import os
results = (process(f) for f in os.listdir(".") if os.path.isfile(f))
clojure
; (defn process-file [f] "process one file" body...)
(map process-file (.listFiles (File. ".")))
erlang
% File basenames only - many tasks require absolute paths to work
lists:foreach(fun (FileOrDirPath) -> Worker(FileOrDirPath) end, file:list_dir(Directory)).
% Absolute paths provided - will accomodate most tasks
lists:foreach(fun (FileOrDirPath) -> Worker(FileOrDirPath) end, list_dir_path(Directory)).
java
for (File file : (new File("c:\\")).listFiles()) process(file);

Process each file in a directory recursively

python
import os
results = (process(os.path.join(p, n)) for p,d,l in os.walk(".") for n in l)
clojure
; (defn process-file [f] "process one file" body...)
(map process-file (file-seq (File. ".")))
erlang
filelib:fold_files(Directory, ".*", true, fun (FileOrDirPath, Acc) -> Worker(FileOrDirPath), Acc end, []).
process_dir(Directory, Worker).
java
processDirectory(new File("c:\\"));