How do I detect whether the file system is case-sensitive?

Question

I have a List<String> of file names from a folder and a certain file name as String. I want to detect whether the file name is in the list, but need to respect the underlying file system's property of whether it is case-sensitive.

Is there any easy way to do this (other than the "hack" of checking System.getProperty("os.name", "").toLowerCase().indexOf("windows")!=-1)? ;-)

Answer 1

Write a file named "HelloWorld"; attempt to read a file named "hELLOwORLD"?

Answer 2

Don't use Strings to represent your files; use java.io.File:

http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/io/File.html#equals%28java.lang.Object%29

Answer 3

boolean isFileSystemCaseSensitive = !new File( "a" ).equals( new File( "A" ) );