The Path class, introduced in JDK7, is the cornerstone of the java.nio.file package — if your application uses file I/O, you will want to learn about the powerful features of this class.

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Version Note: If you have pre-JDK7 code that uses java.io.File you can still take advantage of the Path class functionality using the File.toPath method. See Legacy File I/O Code for more information.

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As its name implies, the Path class is a programmatic representation of a path in the file system. A Path object contains the file name and directory list used to construct the path and is used to examine, locate, and manipulate files.

A Path instance reflects the underlying platform: on Microsoft Windows, a Path uses the syntax employed by Windows (C:\home\joe\foo) and on Solaris a Path uses the syntax employed by Solaris (/home/joe/foo). A Path is not system independent — you can't compare a Path from a Solaris file system and expect it to match a Path from a Windows file system even if the directory structure is identical and both instances locate the same relative file.

The file or directory corresponding to the Path might not exist. As you will see, you can create a Path instance and manipulate it in a variety of ways: you can append to it, extract pieces of it, compare it to another path. At the appropriate time, you can check the existence of the file corresponding to the Path, create it, open it, delete it, change its permissions, and so on.

As you will see, the Path class is "link aware". Every Path method either knows what to do when a symbolic link is encountered or it provides an option allowing you to configure the behavior when a symbolic link is encountered.

The Path class offers a rich feature set and is very easy to use. Most of the methods in the Path class fall into one of two categories:

• Path operations. Methods for returning parts of a path, such as the root, name, parent directory and methods for manipulating a path.
• File operations. Methods for opening a file for I/O, creating a file, creating a directory, deleting a file, copying a file, and so on.

The next sections will examine the Path class in detail.