How to copy file from one location to another location?

I want to copy a file from one location to another location in Java. What is the best way to do this?

Here is what I have so far:

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FilenameFilter;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
public class TestArrayList {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        File f = new File(
            "D:\\CBSE_Demo\\Demo_original\\fscommand\\contentplayer\\config");
        List<String>temp=new ArrayList<String>();
        temp.add(0, "N33");
        temp.add(1, "N1417");
        temp.add(2, "N331");
        File[] matchingFiles = null;
        for(final String temp1: temp){
            matchingFiles = f.listFiles(new FilenameFilter() {
                public boolean accept(File dir, String name) {
                    return name.startsWith(temp1);
                }
            });
            System.out.println("size>>--"+matchingFiles.length);

        }
    }
}

This does not copy the file, what is the best way to do this?

You can use this (or any variant):

Files.copy(src, dst, StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING);

Also, I'd recommend using File.separator or / instead of \\ to make it compliant across multiple OS, question/answer on this available here.

Since you're not sure how to temporarily store files, take a look at ArrayList:

List<File> files = new ArrayList();
files.add(foundFile);

To move a List of files into a single directory:

List<File> files = ...;
String path = "C:/destination/";
for(File file : files) {
    Files.copy(file.toPath(),
        (new File(path + file.getName())).toPath(),
        StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING);
}

Using Stream

private static void copyFileUsingStream(File source, File dest) throws IOException {
    InputStream is = null;
    OutputStream os = null;
    try {
        is = new FileInputStream(source);
        os = new FileOutputStream(dest);
        byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
        int length;
        while ((length = is.read(buffer)) > 0) {
            os.write(buffer, 0, length);
        }
    } finally {
        is.close();
        os.close();
    }
}

Using Channel

private static void copyFileUsingChannel(File source, File dest) throws IOException {
    FileChannel sourceChannel = null;
    FileChannel destChannel = null;
    try {
        sourceChannel = new FileInputStream(source).getChannel();
        destChannel = new FileOutputStream(dest).getChannel();
        destChannel.transferFrom(sourceChannel, 0, sourceChannel.size());
       }finally{
           sourceChannel.close();
           destChannel.close();
       }
}

Using Apache Commons IO lib:

private static void copyFileUsingApacheCommonsIO(File source, File dest) throws IOException {
    FileUtils.copyFile(source, dest);
}

Using Java SE 7 Files class:

private static void copyFileUsingJava7Files(File source, File dest) throws IOException {
    Files.copy(source.toPath(), dest.toPath());
}

Or try Googles Guava :

https://github.com/google/guava

docs: https://guava.dev/releases/snapshot-jre/api/docs/com/google/common/io/Files.html

Compare time:

    File source = new File("/Users/sidikov/tmp/source.avi");
    File dest = new File("/Users/sidikov/tmp/dest.avi");


    //copy file conventional way using Stream
    long start = System.nanoTime();
    copyFileUsingStream(source, dest);
    System.out.println("Time taken by Stream Copy = "+(System.nanoTime()-start));
     
    //copy files using java.nio FileChannel
    source = new File("/Users/sidikov/tmp/sourceChannel.avi");
    dest = new File("/Users/sidikov/tmp/destChannel.avi");
    start = System.nanoTime();
    copyFileUsingChannel(source, dest);
    System.out.println("Time taken by Channel Copy = "+(System.nanoTime()-start));
     
    //copy files using apache commons io
    source = new File("/Users/sidikov/tmp/sourceApache.avi");
    dest = new File("/Users/sidikov/tmp/destApache.avi");
    start = System.nanoTime();
    copyFileUsingApacheCommonsIO(source, dest);
    System.out.println("Time taken by Apache Commons IO Copy = "+(System.nanoTime()-start));
     
    //using Java 7 Files class
    source = new File("/Users/sidikov/tmp/sourceJava7.avi");
    dest = new File("/Users/sidikov/tmp/destJava7.avi");
    start = System.nanoTime();
    copyFileUsingJava7Files(source, dest);
    System.out.println("Time taken by Java7 Files Copy = "+(System.nanoTime()-start));

Use the New Java File classes in Java >=7.

Create the below method and import the necessary libs.

public static void copyFile( File from, File to ) throws IOException {
    Files.copy( from.toPath(), to.toPath() );
} 

Use the created method as below within main:

File dirFrom = new File(fileFrom);
File dirTo = new File(fileTo);

try {
        copyFile(dirFrom, dirTo);
} catch (IOException ex) {
        Logger.getLogger(TestJava8.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}

NB:- fileFrom is the file that you want to copy to a new file fileTo in a different folder.

Credits - @Scott: Standard concise way to copy a file in Java?