Java How to create and write to a file

In Java, we can use Files.write (Since JDK 7) to create and write to a file, one line, simple and nice. See the following examples :

	Charset utf8 = StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
	List<String> list = Arrays.asList("Line 1", "Line 2");
	// If the file doesn't exists, create and write to it
	// If the file exists, truncate (remove all content) and write to it
	Files.write(Paths.get("app.log"), list, utf8);
	// If the file doesn't exists, create and write to it
	// If the file exists, append to it
	Files.write(Paths.get("app.log"), list, utf8, 
		StandardOpenOption.CREATE, StandardOpenOption.APPEND);
	// For a single line String
	Files.write(Paths.get("app.log"), "Hello World".getBytes());
	// Create and write to a file in binary format
	byte[] bytes = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
	Files.write(Paths.get("app.bin"), bytes);

1. Files.write

A complete Java NIO Files.write example.

package com.mkyong;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.charset.Charset;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
public class FileExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Charset utf8 = StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
        List<String> list = Arrays.asList("Line 1", "Line 2");
        try {
			// If the file doesn't exists, create and write to it
			// If the file exists, truncate (remove all content) and write to it
            Files.write(Paths.get("app.log"), list, utf8);
        } catch (IOException x) {
            System.err.format("IOException: %s%n", x);
        // Read
        try {
            byte[] content = Files.readAllBytes(Paths.get("app.log"));
            System.out.println(new String(content));
			// for binary
            //System.out.println(Arrays.toString(content));
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();

Output

Line 1
Line 2

2. BufferedWriter

A complete BufferedWriter example.

package com.mkyong.calculator;
import java.io.*;
import java.nio.charset.Charset;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
public class BufferedWriterExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Charset utf8 = StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
        List<String> list = Arrays.asList("Line 1", "Line 2");
        String content = "Hello World";
        try (Writer writer = new BufferedWriter(
                new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream("app.log"), utf8)
        )) {
            writer.write(content + "\n");
            for (String s : list) {
                writer.write(s + "\n");
        } catch (IOException e) {
            System.err.format("IOException: %s%n", e);

Output

Hello World
Line 1
Line 2

For append, pass a true as second argument for FileOutputStream.

	try (Writer writer = new BufferedWriter(
			new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream("app.log", true), utf8)
	))