How do I replace a line of text found within a text file?
I have a string such as:
Do the dishes0
And I want to update it with:
Do the dishes1
(and vise versa)
How do I accomplish this?
ActionListener al = new ActionListener() {
@Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
JCheckBox checkbox = (JCheckBox) e.getSource();
if (checkbox.isSelected()) {
System.out.println("Selected");
String s = checkbox.getText();
replaceSelected(s, "1");
} else {
System.out.println("Deselected");
String s = checkbox.getText();
replaceSelected(s, "0");
}
}
};
public static void replaceSelected(String replaceWith, String type) {
}
By the way, I want to replace ONLY the line that was read. NOT the entire file.
At the bottom, I have a general solution to replace lines in a file. But first, here is the answer to the specific question at hand. Helper function:
public static void replaceSelected(String replaceWith, String type) {
try {
// input the file content to the StringBuffer "input"
BufferedReader file = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("notes.txt"));
StringBuffer inputBuffer = new StringBuffer();
String line;
while ((line = file.readLine()) != null) {
inputBuffer.append(line);
inputBuffer.append('\n');
}
file.close();
String inputStr = inputBuffer.toString();
System.out.println(inputStr); // display the original file for debugging
// logic to replace lines in the string (could use regex here to be generic)
if (type.equals("0")) {
inputStr = inputStr.replace(replaceWith + "1", replaceWith + "0");
} else if (type.equals("1")) {
inputStr = inputStr.replace(replaceWith + "0", replaceWith + "1");
}
// display the new file for debugging
System.out.println("----------------------------------\n" + inputStr);
// write the new string with the replaced line OVER the same file
FileOutputStream fileOut = new FileOutputStream("notes.txt");
fileOut.write(inputStr.getBytes());
fileOut.close();
} catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println("Problem reading file.");
}
}
Then call it:
public static void main(String[] args) {
replaceSelected("Do the dishes", "1");
}
Original Text File Content:
Do the dishes0
Feed the dog0
Cleaned my room1
Output:
Do the dishes0
Feed the dog0
Cleaned my room1
----------------------------------
Do the dishes1
Feed the dog0
Cleaned my room1
New text file content:
Do the dishes1
Feed the dog0
Cleaned my room1
And as a note, if the text file was:
Do the dishes1
Feed the dog0
Cleaned my room1
and you used the method replaceSelected("Do the dishes", "1");,
it would just not change the file.
Since this question is pretty specific, I'll add a more general solution here for future readers (based on the title).
// read file one line at a time
// replace line as you read the file and store updated lines in StringBuffer
// overwrite the file with the new lines
public static void replaceLines() {
try {
// input the (modified) file content to the StringBuffer "input"
BufferedReader file = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("notes.txt"));
StringBuffer inputBuffer = new StringBuffer();
String line;
while ((line = file.readLine()) != null) {
line = ... // replace the line here
inputBuffer.append(line);
inputBuffer.append('\n');
}
file.close();
// write the new string with the replaced line OVER the same file
FileOutputStream fileOut = new FileOutputStream("notes.txt");
fileOut.write(inputBuffer.toString().getBytes());
fileOut.close();
} catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println("Problem reading file.");
}
}