How do I save a String to a text file using Java?

file, file-io, java, text-files

Solution

If you're simply outputting text, rather than any binary data, the following will work:

PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter("filename.txt");

Then, write your String to it, just like you would to any output stream:

out.println(text);

You'll need exception handling, as ever. Be sure to close the output stream when you've finished writing.

out.close()

If you are using Java 7 or later, you can use the "try-with-resources statement" which will automatically close your `PrintStream` when you are done with it (ie exit the block) like so:

try (PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter("filename.txt")) {
    out.println(text);
}

You will still need to explicitly throw the `java.io.FileNotFoundException` as before.

Problem

In Java, I have text from a text field in a String variable called "text". How can I save the contents of the "text" variable to a file?

Original source