java.io.File setReadable(boolean readable)

Description

On this document we will be showing a java example on how to use the setReadable(boolean readable) method of File Class. This method is a convenience method to set the owner’s read permission for this abstract pathname. On some platforms it may be possible to start the Java virtual machine with special privileges that allow it to read files that that are marked as unreadable.

An invocation of this method of the form file.setReadable(arg) behaves in exactly the same way as the invocation.

Throws:

  • SecurityException – If a security manager exists and its SecurityManager.checkWrite(java.lang.String) method denies write access to the file.

Method Syntax

public boolean setReadable(boolean readable)

Method Argument

Data Type Parameter Description
boolean readable If true, sets the access permission to allow read operations; if false to disallow read operations

Method Returns

This method returns boolean, true if and only if the operation succeeded. The operation will fail if the user does not have permission to change the access permissions of this abstract pathname. If readable is false and the underlying file system does not implement a read permission, then the operation will fail.

Compatibility

Requires Java 1.6 and up

Java File setReadable(boolean readable) Example

Below is a java code demonstrates the use of setReadable(boolean readable) method of File class. The example presented might be simple however it shows the behaviour of the setReadable(boolean readable) method of File class.

Basically we basically set a file as readable and we put a check if the operation succeeded or not.

package com.javatutorialhq.java.examples;

import java.io.File;

/*
 * This example source code demonstrates the use of  
 * setReadable(boolean readable) method of File class.
 * 
 */

public class FileSetReadableExample2 {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		
		// initialize File object
		File file = new File("C:javatutorialhqinputtest_file.txt");		
		
		// check first if file exist
		if(file.exists()){
			// set file as readable if the user is the owner
			boolean result = file.setReadable(true);			
			// evaluate the result
			if(result){
				System.out.println("Operation succeeded");
			}else{
				System.out.println("Operation failed");
			}
		}else{
			System.out.println("File does not exist");
		}
	}
}

Sample Output

Below is the sample output when you run the above example.

java lang File setReadable(boolean readable) example output