Combining Paths in Java

The System.IO.Path.Combine method in C#/.NET allows for combining multiple path segments into a single, valid path. Java offers alternative methods for achieving a similar functionality.

Path Object

In Java 7 and later, the java.nio.file.Path class is recommended for path manipulation. The Path.resolve method can combine multiple paths or a path and a string. For instance:

Path path = Paths.get("foo", "bar", "baz.txt");

java.io.File

For pre-Java-7 environments, the java.io.File class can be utilized. This involves creating File objects for each path segment and concatenating them:

File baseDirectory = new File("foo");
File subDirectory = new File(baseDirectory, "bar");
File fileInDirectory = new File(subDirectory, "baz.txt");

Custom Combine Method

If a string result is desired, a custom method can be created to mimic Path.Combine:

public static String combine(String path1, String path2) {
    File file1 = new File(path1);
    File file2 = new File(file1, path2);
    return file2.getPath();
}

Remember that using dedicated path manipulation classes like Path or File provides additional functionality and security benefits compared to working with raw strings.