In this example we are going to talk about Java FilenameFilter interface. FilenameFilter is a very convenient interface that helps you filter out specific file names when listing a folder. So, as you might imagine, it is particularly useful for applications that have to navigate through big file systems.
Filter file extension
In order to use the FilenameFilter class to filter file names, you have to create a class that implements FilenameFilter and override its accept method.
MyFileFilter.java:
package com.javacodegeeks.core.io.filenamefilter;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FilenameFilter;
public class MyFileFilter implements FilenameFilter {
@Override
public boolean accept(File directory, String fileName) {
if (fileName.endsWith(".txt")) {
return true;
}
return false;
}
}
In the above accept method you can see too arguments. The first File argument is the folder that is being listed and the second one is the name of the file that is being checked. In this method you can check the file name and directory and create a filter that accepts or rejects based on your own conditions. In this example we accept a file if it ends with ".txt".
And you can simply use it like so:
FileFilterExample.java:
package com.javacodegeeks.core.io.filenamefilter;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FilenameFilter;
public class FileFilterExample {
private static final String FOLDER_PATH ="F:\\nikos7\\Desktop\\testFiles";
public static void main(String[] args){
File dir = new File(FOLDER_PATH);
FilenameFilter filter = new MyFileFilter();
File[] files = dir.listFiles(filter);
for(File f : files)
System.out.println(f.getName());
}
}
Output:
javacodegeeks.txt
jisea.txt
textFile.txt
If you run this program without the filter :
FileFilterExample.java:
package com.javacodegeeks.core.io.filenamefilter;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FilenameFilter;
public class FileFilterExample {
private static final String FOLDER_PATH ="F:\\nikos7\\Desktop\\testFiles";
public static void main(String[] args){
File dir = new File(FOLDER_PATH);
FilenameFilter filter = new MyFileFilter();
File[] files = dir.listFiles();
for(File f : files)
System.out.println(f.getName());
}
}
Output:
2010.docx
20140116_151426.jpg
31-10-2013 4-38-36 ??.jpg
javacodegeeks.txt
jisea.txt
pointer.pdf
taxis.jpg
textFile.txt
So as you can see, when you use the filter you only get files with the ".txt" extension.
If you want, of course you can provide the FilenameFilter as an anonymous class:
FileFilterExample.java:
package com.javacodegeeks.core.io.filenamefilter;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FilenameFilter;
public class FileFilterExample {
private static final String FOLDER_PATH ="F:\\nikos7\\Desktop\\testFiles";
public static void main(String[] args){
File dir = new File(FOLDER_PATH);
File[] files = dir.listFiles(new FilenameFilter(){
@Override
public boolean accept(File directory, String fileName) {
if (fileName.endsWith(".txt")) {
return true;
}
return false;
}
} );
for(File f : files)
System.out.println(f.getName());
}
}
Filter file name using regular expressions
Of course, you can make more complex filter than the above one, using regular expressions. For example, I want to list all the files that do not contain number in their names.
FileFilterExample.java:
package com.javacodegeeks.core.io.filenamefilter;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FilenameFilter;
public class FileFilterExample {
private static final String FOLDER_PATH ="F:\\nikos7\\Desktop\\testFiles";
public static void main(String[] args){
File dir = new File(FOLDER_PATH);
File[] files = dir.listFiles(new FilenameFilter(){
@Override
public boolean accept(File directory, String fileName) {
if (fileName.matches("[a-zA-z]+\\.[a-z]+")) {
return true;
}
return false;
}
} );
for(File f : files)
System.out.println(f.getName());
}
}
Output:
javacodegeeks.txt
jisea.txt
taxis.jpg
textFile.txt
Download Source Code
This was a FilenameFilter example. You can download the source code of this example here : FileFilterExample.zip
