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How to append text to the end of a text file?

 
Greenhorn
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Hi,

Can anyone see why the code below doesn't append (text entered by user in GUI) to the end of the text file? It just overwrites the original text in the file:

// Write text to file
out.append(textBox.getText());
out.println();
out.close();

I have also tried:

out.append(textBox.getText() + '\n'); but the original text was still overwritten.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
 
author and iconoclast
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You haven't shown us what sort of object "out" is, with its "append" method. I'm guessing it's an instance of java.io.FileWriter; in that case, note that append() is exactly the same as write() -- it does nothing special.

What matters is not whether you call append(), but how you construct the FileWriter. There's a constructor that takes a boolean argument after the filename; if you pass "true" for that argument, then the FileWriter appends to the end of the file. If you pass false, or use any other constructor, then the FileWriter erases the prior contents of the file the instant the FileWriter is created.

So if you do something like

FileWriter out = new FileWriter("myfile.txt");
out.write("Hello");
out.close();
out = new FileWriter("myfile.txt", true);
out.write(", world!");
out.close();

The file contains "Hello, world!"
 
Sheriff
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The append method just writes to the writer.

The trick is in creating the FileWriter. There are two constructors that take a boolean. If this boolean is true, everything you write to that file is appended. If it is false, or you use a constructor without the boolean, you will overwrite the file.

In other words, just what Ernest has just said
[ April 06, 2008: Message edited by: Rob Prime ]
 
drew taylor
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Thanks guys, I just added true after the filename to write to and it worked
[ April 06, 2008: Message edited by: drew taylor ]
 
drew taylor
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I'm trying to read the data from the text file, but the following code only seems to read the first line, why is this?

Thanks,

try {
File file = new File(fileName);
FileReader reader = new FileReader(file);
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(reader);
String string;
while ((string = in.readLine()) != null) {
System.out.println(string);
}
in.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
 
Greenhorn
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To read it
 
Marshal
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Nathan Coffey, welcome to the Ranch

I would have added code tags to your post, which would have improved its appearance, but you haven’t indented the code you posted.
Oh, it’s only short; I’ll indent it for you this time.
 
lowercase baba
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Nathan,

Also note that the original post and last update before yours is from four years ago. I doubt they are still waiting for an answer.
 
Greenhorn
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Will this work when you add data to a blank text file?
 
Bartender
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Welcome to the Ranch.

Why not try it to see what happens?
 
Oh, sure, you could do that. Or you could eat some pie. While reading this tiny ad:
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