Check Hidden Files in Java

Tags: Java File Java IO Java NIO

Introduction

In this post we are going to explore how to use Java IO and Java NIO core classes to check if a file is hidden or not.

For example we have a text file is a hidden file located at D:\Files\file.txt

Check Hidden Files in Java

Using Java NIO Files.isHidden() static method

import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.nio.file.Paths;

public class FilesIsHiddenExample {
    public static void main(String... args) {
        try {
            String fileName = "D:\\Files\\file.txt";
            Path filePath = Paths.get(fileName);

            boolean isHidden = Files.isHidden(filePath);

            System.out.println("File [" + fileName + "] is hidden or not: " + isHidden);
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}
Output: 
File [D:\Files\file.txt] is hidden or not: true

Using Java IO file.isHidden() method

import java.io.File;

public class FileIsHiddenExample {
    public static void main(String... args) {
        String fileName = "D:\\Files\\file1.txt";
        File file = new File(fileName);

        boolean isHidden = file.isHidden();

        System.out.println("File [" + fileName + "] is hidden or not: " + isHidden);
    }
}
Output: 
File [D:\Files\file1.txt] is hidden or not: false

Notes about the hidden definition

On both methods above, the exact definition of hidden is system-dependent.

  • On UNIX systems, a file is considered to be hidden if its name begins with a period character ‘.’.
  • On Microsoft Windows systems, a file is considered to be hidden if it has been marked as such in the filesystem.

Happy Coding 😊

Get File Size in Java

Get Absolute File Path of a File in Java

Write Text to a File in Java