Unable to delete a properties file

Question

I have to delete a property file from the path specified. I used the following code:

File f1 = new File(\"C:\\\\Equinox\\\\UIDesign\\\\root\\\\root.properties\")         


        

Answer 1

There are a couple of reasons why File.delete() can fail:

• It's a directory and not empty
• You don't have the OS permission to delete the file
• The file is still opened somewhere

The last one could be your own fault, if you've opened a FileInput/OutputStream for that file and forgot to close it.

Answer 2

I agree with Michael, his answer makes a lot of sense. Just a comment on your code, you should be doing the following to catch all possible errors and notify the user accordingly:

try{
 File f1 = new File("C:\\Equinox\\UIDesign\\root\\root.properties"); 
 boolean success=f1.delete();
 if(!success){
    // Notify user that the file 
 }
catch(SecurityException ex){
 // No sufficient rights to do this operation
}