Home / I/O / Path.of() factory
I/O beginner

Path.of() factory

Use Path.of() — the modern factory method on the Path interface.

Code Comparison
✕ Java 8 
Path path = Paths.get("src", "main",
    "java", "App.java");
✓ Java 11+ 
Path path = Path.of("src", "main",
    "java", "App.java");
Why the modern way wins
📐

Consistent API

Follows the .of() factory pattern like List.of(), Set.of().

📖

Discoverable

Found on the Path type itself, not a separate Paths class.

🧹

One less class

No need to import the Paths utility class.

Old Approach
Paths.get()
Modern Approach
Path.of()
Since JDK
11
Difficulty
beginner
JDK Support
Path.of() factory
Available

Widely available since JDK 11 (Sept 2018)

How it works

Path.of() is a factory method added directly to the Path interface, replacing the separate Paths utility class. It's more discoverable and consistent with List.of(), Map.of(), etc.

Related patterns

I/O beginner

InputStream.transferTo()

Java 8
byte[] buf = new byte[8192];
int n;
while ((n = input.read(buf)) != -1) {
    output.write(buf, 0, n);
}
Java 9+
input.transferTo(output);
Hover to see modern ➜
JDK 9+ →
I/O beginner

Reading files

Java 8
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
try (BufferedReader br =
    new BufferedReader(
        new FileReader("data.txt"))) {
    String line;
    while ((line = br.readLine()) != null)
        sb.append(line).append("\n");
}
String content = sb.toString();
Java 11+
String content =
    Files.readString(Path.of("data.txt"));
Hover to see modern ➜
JDK 11+ →
I/O beginner

Try-with-resources improvement

Java 8
Connection conn = getConnection();
// Must re-declare in try
try (Connection c = conn) {
    use(c);
}
Java 9+
Connection conn = getConnection();
// Use existing variable directly
try (conn) {
    use(conn);
}
Hover to see modern ➜
JDK 9+ →
Share 𝕏 🦋 in ⬡