Java File toString() method with examples

1. Introduction

The toString() method returns the pathname string of the given File object. This method is equivalent to using Java IO getPath) method.

2. Method signature

public String toString()

Parameters:

method does not take any parameter

Returns

true - if file or directory exists in the filesystem

Throws

SecurityException - when we do not have access to the file or directory

3. Examples

3.1. Example code that prints the results of `toString` method on several `File` objects

package com.frontbackend.java.io;

import java.io.File;

public class FrontBackend {

    public static void main(String args[]) {

        try {
            File file = new File("frontbackend.txt");
            File test = new File("../frontbackend/test");
            File txt = new File("./frontbackend.txt");
            File tmp = new File("/tmp");
            File empty = new File("./../tmp/./frontbackend/..");

            System.out.println(file.toString());
            System.out.println(test.toString());
            System.out.println(txt.toString());
            System.out.println(tmp.toString());
            System.out.println(empty.toString());

        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

The output:

frontbackend.txt
../frontbackend/test
./frontbackend.txt
/tmp
./../tmp/./frontbackend/..

4. Conclusion

In this article, we presented toString method used for printing the full path of the given File object. This method is returns the same result as getPath() method.