renaming file

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Scott Steiner - 23 Jun 2005 11:49 GMT

hi,

this problem has kept me busy for several days now. i'm implementing a
board game that logs the moves as they are done in a file. at the end of
the match the file is renamed by giving it a timestamp in it's name.
however, the renaming is not succeeding. actually i rename 2 files at
the end of the match, the first file is renamed but the second isn't.

what reasons can fundamentally cause this behaviour? the file is
definitely closed before attempting to rename it and no ther file exists
with the same name so there is no naming conflict after a rename. i'm
creating a file instance with new File(...) and then using the
renameTo() method. is there a way to get an error return code of the
renameTo() method which gives an explanation what exactly went wrong? at
the moment i only receive either true or false.

thx for any input!

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TechBookReport - 23 Jun 2005 15:44 GMT

> hi,
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> thx for any input!

It returns a boolean which you can test. I've hit a similar problem in
the past when deleting files, sometimes it just doesn't work (this is on
Windows, so the problem may not exist on Linux or other os).

For deleting a file I use this code:

private void deleteFile(File f){
    for (int i=0;i<100;i++){
        if (!f.delete()) {
            System.gc();
            try {
                Thread.sleep(10);
            } catch (InterruptedException ex) {
                // Ignore Exception
            }
        } else {
            break;
        }
    }
}

Try it with rename and see if that solves the problem.

Pan
====================================================================
TechBookReport Java http://www.techbookreport.com/JavaIndex.html

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Lucy - 23 Jun 2005 18:34 GMT

> > hi,
> >
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> >
> > thx for any input!

This works for me:

File f = new File(name);
f.deleteOnExit();

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Andrew Thompson - 23 Jun 2005 18:44 GMT

> This works for me:
>
> File f = new File(name);
> f.deleteOnExit();

It seems some other folks have found quirks to that
simple solution though..
<http://onesearch.sun.com/search/developers/index.jsp?qt=deleteOnExit&col=javabugs>

[ And.. why did you reply to Pan's post, when you
trimmed everything they wrote? ]

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Andrew Thompson
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Lucy - 23 Jun 2005 19:32 GMT

> > This works for me:
> >
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> It seems some other folks have found quirks to that
> simple solution though..

<http://onesearch.sun.com/search/developers/index.jsp?qt=deleteOnExit&col=ja
vabugs>

> [ And.. why did you reply to Pan's post, when you
> trimmed everything they wrote? ]

I don't know, what's the answer?

> --
> Andrew Thompson
> http://www.PhySci.org/codes/ Web & IT Help
> http://www.PhySci.org/ Open-source software suite
> http://www.1point1C.org/ Science & Technology
> http://www.LensEscapes.com/ Images that escape the mundane

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Raymond DeCampo - 24 Jun 2005 02:27 GMT

> hi,
>
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> renameTo() method which gives an explanation what exactly went wrong? at
> the moment i only receive either true or false.

The problem is the fundamental non-Java way File.renameTo() is
implemented, i.e., swallowing exceptions and returning a passcode.

<http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=5036327>

One way is to open streams and copy the file manually, in process. Not
as efficient as a system call however.

HTH,
Ray

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XML is the programmer's duct tape.

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renaming file

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