Java For Dummies Quick Reference

PrintWriter Class

Package: java.io

The PrintWriter class lets you write data to an output stream. Although you can connect a PrintWriter to any object that implements Writer, you’ll use it most often in conjunction with a BufferedWriter object.

The PrintWriter class is one of many Java I/O classes that use streams. For more information, see Streams (Overview).

Constructors

Constructor	Description
PrintWriter(Writer out)	Creates a print writer for the specified output writer.
PrintWriter(Writer out, boolean flush)	Creates a print writer for the specified output writer. If the second parameter is true, the buffer is automatically flushed whenever the println method is called.

Methods

Method	Description
void close()	Closes the file.
void flush()	Writes the contents of the buffer to the hard drive.
void print(value)	Writes the value, which can be any primitive type or any object. If the value is an object, the object’s toString() method is called.
void println(value)	Writes the value, which can be any primitive type or any object. If the value is an object, the object’s toString() method is called. A line break is written following the value.

Creating a PrintWriter object

Creating a PrintWriter object to write data to an output file is a bit of a convoluted process that typically involves four distinct classes. First, you ...