How to read properties file in Java.

Reading properties file in Java is much easier than you might have thought. Following example illustrates one simple way of reading properties from a properties file.

Let’s say we need to read from myConfig.properties file.


The properties file has following entries.

Directory = C:/prodFiles/
NumberOfFiles = 25
Extension = java

Here is the java code to read the values of these keys.

import java.util.Properties;
import java.io.*;
public class ReadValues{
   private static final String PROP_FILE="myConfig.properties";
   public void readPropertiesFile(){
       try{
  	     InputStream is = ReadValues.class.getResourceAsStream(PROP_FILE);
	     Properties prop = new Properties();
             prop.load(is);
	     String directory = prop.getProperty("Directory");
             String numberOfFiles = prop.getProperty("NumberOfFiles");
	     String  fileExtension = prop.getProperty("Extension");
             is.close();
	  /* code to use values read from the file*/
       }catch(Exception e){
         System.out.println("Failed to read from " + PROP_FILE + " file.");
       }
   }
  }

The code is quite simple and self explanatory. Let me know if you have any questions.