How do I use Java to read from a file that is actively being written to?

Could not get the example to work using FileChannel.read(ByteBuffer) because it isn't a blocking read. Did however get the code below to work:

boolean running = true;
BufferedInputStream reader = new BufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream( "out.txt" ) );

public void run() {
    while( running ) {
        if( reader.available() > 0 ) {
            System.out.print( (char)reader.read() );
        }
        else {
            try {
                sleep( 500 );
            }
            catch( InterruptedException ex ) {
                running = false;
            }
        }
    }
}

Of course the same thing would work as a timer instead of a thread, but I leave that up to the programmer. I'm still looking for a better way, but this works for me for now.

Oh, and I'll caveat this with: I'm using 1.4.2. Yes I know I'm in the stone ages still.

If you want to read a file while it is being written and only read the new content then following will help you achieve the same.

To run this program you will launch it from command prompt/terminal window and pass the file name to read. It will read the file unless you kill the program.

java FileReader c:\myfile.txt

As you type a line of text save it from notepad and you will see the text printed in the console.

public class FileReader {

    public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception {
        if(args.length>0){
            File file = new File(args[0]);
            System.out.println(file.getAbsolutePath());
            if(file.exists() && file.canRead()){
                long fileLength = file.length();
                readFile(file,0L);
                while(true){

                    if(fileLength<file.length()){
                        readFile(file,fileLength);
                        fileLength=file.length();
                    }
                }
            }
        }else{
            System.out.println("no file to read");
        }
    }

    public static void readFile(File file,Long fileLength) throws IOException {
        String line = null;

        BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new java.io.FileReader(file));
        in.skip(fileLength);
        while((line = in.readLine()) != null)
        {
            System.out.println(line);
        }
        in.close();
    }
}

You might also take a look at java channel for locking a part of a file.

http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/nio/channels/FileChannel.html

This function of the FileChannel might be a start

lock(long position, long size, boolean shared) 

An invocation of this method will block until the region can be locked