Read a text file from Java classpath

File to read: src/main/resources/examples/request.xml

<employee>
    <name>Peter Smith</name>
    <age>25</age>
</employee>

<name>Peter Smith</name>

</employee>

1. Using Java API without any libraries

package com.mytutorial;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;


public class ReadTextFileFromClasspath {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        InputStream is = ReadTextFileFromClasspath.class.getResourceAsStream("/examples/request.xml");
        InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(is);
        StringBuilder sb=new StringBuilder();
        BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);
        String read = br.readLine();

        while(read != null) {
            sb.append(read);
            read =br.readLine();
            sb.append("\n");
        }

        System.out.println(sb.toString());
    }
}

package com.mytutorial;

import java.io.BufferedReader;

import java.io.IOException;

import java.io.InputStream;

import java.io.InputStreamReader;

public class ReadTextFileFromClasspath {

public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

InputStream is = ReadTextFileFromClasspath.class.getResourceAsStream("/examples/request.xml");

InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(is);

StringBuilder sb=new StringBuilder();

BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);

String read = br.readLine();

while(read != null) {

sb.append(read);

read =br.readLine();

sb.append("\n");

}

System.out.println(sb.toString());

}

You can also use the “ClassLoader”

ClassLoader loader = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
InputStream is = loader.getResourceAsStream("examples/request.xml");

1 2	ClassLoader loader = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader(); InputStream is = loader.getResourceAsStream("examples/request.xml");

2. Using Java 7 NIO

 package com.mytutorial;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URISyntaxException;
import java.nio.charset.Charset;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.util.List;


public class ReadTextFileFromClasspath {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, URISyntaxException {

        List<String> readLines = Files.readAllLines(
            Paths.get(ReadTextFileFromClasspath.class.getResource("/examples/request.xml").toURI()), Charset.defaultCharset());

        System.out.println(readLines);
    }
}

package com.mytutorial;

import java.io.IOException;

import java.net.URISyntaxException;

import java.nio.charset.Charset;

import java.nio.file.Files;

import java.nio.file.Paths;

import java.util.List;

public class ReadTextFileFromClasspath {

public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, URISyntaxException {

List<String> readLines = Files.readAllLines(

Paths.get(ReadTextFileFromClasspath.class.getResource("/examples/request.xml").toURI()), Charset.defaultCharset());

System.out.println(readLines);

}

3. Using Apache commons-io library

package com.mytutorial;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;

import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;

public class ReadTextFileFromClasspath {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        InputStream is = ReadTextFileFromClasspath.class.getResourceAsStream("/examples/request.xml");
        String str = IOUtils.toString(is, "UTF-8");
        System.out.println(str);
    }
}

package com.mytutorial;

import java.io.IOException;

import java.io.InputStream;

import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;

public class ReadTextFileFromClasspath {

public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

InputStream is = ReadTextFileFromClasspath.class.getResourceAsStream("/examples/request.xml");

String str = IOUtils.toString(is, "UTF-8");

System.out.println(str);

}

4. Using Spring library

package com.mytutorial;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URL;

import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
import org.springframework.util.ResourceUtils;

public class ReadTextFileFromClasspath {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        final URL url = ResourceUtils.getURL("classpath:examples/request.xml");
        String str = IOUtils.toString(url);

        System.out.println(str);
    }
}

package com.mytutorial;

import java.io.IOException;

import java.net.URL;

import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;

import org.springframework.util.ResourceUtils;

public class ReadTextFileFromClasspath {

public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

final URL url = ResourceUtils.getURL("classpath:examples/request.xml");

String str = IOUtils.toString(url);

System.out.println(str);

}

5. Using Java 8 API

package com.mytutorial;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.charset.Charset;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.util.stream.Stream;


public class ReadTextFileFromClasspath {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        Stream<String> stream = Files.lines(Paths.get("/examples/request.xml"),Charset.defaultCharset());
        stream.forEach(System.out::println);
    }
}

package com.mytutorial;

import java.io.IOException;

import java.nio.charset.Charset;

import java.nio.file.Files;

import java.nio.file.Paths;

import java.util.stream.Stream;

public class ReadTextFileFromClasspath {

public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

Stream<String> stream = Files.lines(Paths.get("/examples/request.xml"),Charset.defaultCharset());

stream.forEach(System.out::println);

}

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Arulkumaran Kumaraswamipillai

In 1999, I pivoted from mechanical engineering to become a self-taught Java expert. Over the past 19+ years, I have built a high-demand contracting career, delivering mission-critical solutions for 13+ top-tier organisations. With a proven track record that has generated over 130+ job offers, I help enterprises solve complex data challenges at scale.

Author of the book "Java/J2EE job interview companion", which sold 35,000+ copies on amazon.com & superseded by this site with 2000+ registered users.

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