Kotlin – Check if a File is Writable

Kotlin – Check if a File is Writable

To check if a file is writable in Kotlin, you can use File.canWrite() function.

Checking if a file is writable is a key step in many file manipulation tasks in Kotlin. This check ensures that your application can modify or write to a file without encountering access restrictions.

In this tutorial, we will go through a step by step process on how to determine if a file is writable in Kotlin, with an example.

Steps to Check if a File is Writable in Kotlin

To check if a file is writable in Kotlin, follow these steps:

  1. Import the File class from the java.io package.
  2. Create a File object by specifying the path of the file you want to check.
  3. Use the canWrite() method of the File object to determine if the file is writable.

Kotlin Example Program to Check if a File is Writable

In the following Kotlin example program, we check if a file named 'example.txt' is writable.

Main.kt

import java.io.File

fun main() {
    val filePath = "example.txt" // Replace with your file path
    val file = File(filePath)

    if (file.canWrite()) {
        println("The file is writable.")
    } else {
        println("The file is not writable.")
    }
}

Output

The file is writable.

In case if the file is read only, then you would get the following output.

The file is not writable.

The output will indicate whether the specified file is writable or not.

Summary

In this Kotlin tutorial, we explored how to check if a file is writable. This operation is essential in scenarios where your application needs to modify or append data to a file, ensuring that the file has the necessary permissions for such actions.