How do I close a file after catching an IOException in java?
- by DimDom
All,
I am trying to ensure that a file I have open with BufferedReader is closed when I catch an IOException, but it appears as if my BufferedReader object is out of scope in the catch block.
public static ArrayList readFiletoArrayList(String fileName, ArrayList fileArrayList)
{
fileArrayList.removeAll(fileArrayList);
try {
//open the file for reading
BufferedReader fileIn = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(fileName));
// add line by line to array list, until end of file is reached
// when buffered reader returns null (todo).
while(true){
fileArrayList.add(fileIn.readLine());
}
}catch(IOException e){
fileArrayList.removeAll(fileArrayList);
fileIn.close();
return fileArrayList; //returned empty. Dealt with in calling code.
}
}
Netbeans complains that it "cannot find symbol fileIn" in the catch block, but I want to ensure that in the case of an IOException that the Reader gets closed. How can I do that without the ugliness of a second try/catch construct around the first?
Any tips or pointers as to best practise in this situation is appreciated,
