How to replace a specific line in a file using Java?

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If you are using Java 7 or higher and if lineNumber starts in 1, you can do the following:

public static void setVariable(int lineNumber, String data) throws IOException {
    Path path = Paths.get("data.txt");
    List<String> lines = Files.readAllLines(path, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
    lines.set(lineNumber - 1, data);
    Files.write(path, lines, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
}

Obviously if lineNumber starts in 0, then:

lines.set(lineNumber, data);
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Updated on July 22, 2022

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  • Admin
    Admin almost 2 years

    How do I write over a specific line in a text file using FileWriter and PrintWriter? I don't want to have to make a new file every time.

    Edit: Can I just cycle through the file, get the length of the String at the indicated line number, and then use that length to backspace once I get to that line (to delete the String), and write in the new data?

    public static void setVariable(int lineNumber, String data) {
        try { 
            // Creates FileWriter. Append is on.
            FileWriter fw = new FileWriter("data.txt", true);       
    
            PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(fw);       
    
            //cycles through file until line designated to be rewritten is reached
            for (int i = 1; i <= lineNumber; i++) {     
                //TODO: need to figure out how to change the append to false to overwrite data
                if (i == lineNumber) {
                    pw.println(data);
                    pw.close();
                } else {          
                    // moves printwriter focus to next line (doesn't overwrite)
                    pw.println(""); 
                }
            } 
        }
    }