How to delete a file in Java

By mkyong | Updated: July 17, 2020

Viewed: 24,936 (+134 pv/w)

Tags: delete file io java.nio

In Java, we can use the NIO Files.delete(Path) and Files.deleteIfExists(Path) to delete a file.

1. Delete a file with Java NIO

1.1 The Files.delete(Path) deletes a file, returns nothing, or throws an exception if it fails.

package com.mkyong.io.file;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Paths;

public class DeleteFile1 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        String fileName = "/home/mkyong/app1.log";
        try {
            Files.delete(Paths.get(fileName));
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

    }

}

If the file doesn’t exist, it throws NoSuchFileException.

  java.nio.file.NoSuchFileException: /home/mkyong/app1.log

1.2 The Files.deleteIfExists(Path) also delete a file, but it returns a boolean, true if file deletion success; false if the file doesn’t exist, no exception is thrown.

package com.mkyong.io.file;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Paths;

public class DeleteFile2 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        String fileName = "/home/mkyong/app.log";

        try {
            boolean result = Files.deleteIfExists(Paths.get(fileName));
            if (result) {
                System.out.println("File is deleted!");
            } else {
                System.out.println("Sorry, unable to delete the file.");
            }
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

    }

}

2. Delete a file with Java IO

2.1 For the legacy File IO java.io.*, we can use the File.delete() to delete a file, and it will return boolean, true if file deletion success, false otherwise.

package com.mkyong.io.file;

import java.io.File;

public class DeleteFile3 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        String fileName = "/home/mkyong/app1.log";

        try {
            File file = new File(fileName);
            if (file.delete()) {
                System.out.println(file.getName() + " is deleted!");
            } else {
                System.out.println("Sorry, unable to delete the file.");
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

    }

}

2.2 The File.deleteOnExit() is a bit special, it will delete the file when the JVM terminates normally. However, there is no guarantee on the file deletion, use it with care, or avoid this method.

  File file = new File(fileName);
  file.deleteOnExit();

References

• Java NIO Files JavaDoc
• Java IO File JavaDoc