Java defines a File class that represents a name of a file on your operating system’s file system. You can use the File class to manipulate the file name, which is a text string (see Tip: “Manipulating File Names With the File Class”). You can also use it to perform file-related operations on the underlying file system (see Tip: “Performing File Operations With the File Class”). A File object is constructed using a String name that defines the file. The simplest constructor for the File class is:

 public File (String filename)

The parameter “filename” can be just the name of the file, a relative pathname, or the absolute pathname. For example, if you had a file “myfile.xyz” in the directory “C:fooar” on your system, an object of the type File could be constructed in any of the following ways:

 File file = new File("myfile.xyz");File file = new File("barmyfile.xyz");File file = new File("fooarmyfile.xyz");File file = new File("C:fooarmyfile.xyz");

If “filename” is not absolute; it is taken relative to the current working directory of the program. For example, the File object in the second constructor would only be useful if the program was running in the directory “C:foo.”