How to create a new directory by using File object in Java?

The class named File of the java.io package represents a file or directory (path names) in the system. This class provides various methods to perform various operations on files/directories.

Creating a new directory

The mkdir() method of this class creates a directory with the path represented by the current object.

Therefore, to create a directory −

• Instantiate the File class by passing the path of the directory you need to create, as a parameter (String).
• Invoke the mkdir() method using the above created file object.

Example

Following Java example reads the path and name of the directory to be created, from the user, and creates it.

import java.io.File;
import java.util.Scanner;
public class CreateDirectory {
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      System.out.println("Enter the path to create a directory: ");
      Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
      String path = sc.next();
      System.out.println("Enter the name of the desired a directory: ");
      path = path+sc.next();
      //Creating a File object
      File file = new File(path);
      //Creating the directory
      boolean bool = file.mkdir();
      if(bool){
         System.out.println("Directory created successfully");
      }else{
         System.out.println("Sorry couldn’t create specified directory");
      }
   }
}

Output

Enter the path to create a directory:
D:\
Enter the name of the desired a directory:
sample_directory
Directory created successfully

If you verify, you can observe see the created directory as −

But, if you specify a path in a drive that doesn’t exist, this method will not create the required directory.

For example, if the D drive of my (windows) system is empty and if I specify the path of the directory to be created as −

D:\test\myDirectories\sample_directory

Where the test and myDirectories folders doesn’t exist, the mkdir() method will not create it.

Creating directory hierarchy

To create a hierarchy of new directories you can using the method mkdirs() of the same class. This method creates the directory with the path represented by the current object, including non-existing parent directories.

Example

import java.io.File;
import java.util.Scanner;
public class CreateDirectory {
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      System.out.println("Enter the path to create a directory: ");
      Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
      String path = sc.next();
      System.out.println("Enter the name of the desired a directory: ");
      path = path+sc.next();
      //Creating a File object
      File file = new File(path);
      //Creating the directory
      boolean bool = file.mkdirs();
      if(bool){
         System.out.println("Directory created successfully");
      }else{
         System.out.println("Sorry couldnt create specified directory");
      }
   }
}

Output

Enter the path to create a directory:
D:\test\myDirectories\
Enter the name of the desired a directory:
sample_directory
Directory created successfully

If you verify you can observe see the created directory as −

Krishna Kasyap

Published on 01-Aug-2019 17:24:30