How to get a path to a resource in a Java JAR file

Question

I am trying to get a path to a Resource but I have had no luck.

This works (both in IDE and with the JAR) but this way I can't get a path to a file, only the file contents:

ClassLoader classLoader = getClass().getClassLoader();
printInputStream(classLoader.getResourceAsStream("config/netclient.p"));

If i do this:

ClassLoader classLoader = getClass().getClassLoader();
File file = new File(classLoader.getResource("config/netclient.p").getFile());

The result is: java.io.FileNotFoundException: file:/path/to/jarfile/bot.jar!/config/netclient.p (No such file or directory)

Is there a way to get a path to a resource file?

Answer 1

This is deliberate. The contents of the "file" may not be available as a file. Remember you are dealing with classes and resources that may be part of a JAR file or other kind of resource. The classloader does not have to provide a file handle to the resource, for example the jar file may not have been expanded into individual files in the file system.

Anything you can do by getting a java.io.File could be done by copying the stream out into a temporary file and doing the same, if a java.io.File is absolutely necessary.

Answer 2

if netclient.p is inside a JAR file, it won't have a path because that file is located inside other file. in that case, the best path you can have is really file:/path/to/jarfile/bot.jar!/config/netclient.p.

Answer 3

A File is an abstraction for a file in a filesystem, and the filesystems don't know anything about what are the contents of a JAR.

Try with an URI, I think there's a jar:// protocol that might be useful for your purpouses.