Is the empty file descriptor a directory?

[Warren Dew]

I'm getting some behavior from java.io.File that seems to me strange:

java.io.File file = new java.io.File("");
System.out.println(file.isDirectory()) // "false"
System.out.println(file.getAbsolutePath()) // prints path to working directory
System.out.println((new File(file.getAbsolutePath())).isDirectory()) // "true"

So does the empty file descriptor (File("")) represent the current working directory, or not? What am I missing?

[edited to correct "directory" to "file" in the last line of code]
[ November 19, 2004: Message edited by: Warren Dew ]

[Layne Lund]

Originally posted by Warren Dew:
I'm getting some behavior from java.io.File that seems to me strange:

java.io.File file = new java.io.File("");
System.out.println(file.isDirectory()) // "false"
System.out.println(file.getAbsolutePath()) // prints path to working directory
System.out.println((new File(directory.getAbsolutePath())).isDirectory()) // "true"

So does the empty file descriptor (File("")) represent the current working directory, or not? What am I missing?

I'm a little confused by your code. In the last line, I see a variable named directory. However, you didn't post it's declaration or initialization.

I suspect that the first few lines of code are referencing a file named "" in the current working directory. Since the file has a blank name, you don't see it when you print out the absolute path. To get just the current working directory, you should use ".". Most modern operating systems use this convention.