Question

I have to delete a property file from the path specified. I used the following code:

File f1 = new File("C:\\Equinox\\UIDesign\\root\\root.properties"); 
boolean success=f1.delete();

It returns false.

But a text file instead of property file is succesfully deleted.

Answer 1

There are a couple of reasons why File.delete() can fail:

• It’s a directory and not empty
• You don’t have the OS permission to delete the file
• The file is still opened somewhere

The last one could be your own fault, if you’ve opened a FileInput/OutputStream for that file and forgot to close it.