Include external file (not jar) to executable jar

Question

If I load some (say *.txt) file to my java app, how can I inlcude it to my final executable jar to make it portable (means if I move my jar to another machine it's not required to move this *.txt file with it)?

Note that I don't need the content of file I need the file itself . And how should I write the path to this file from the code?

String path = "path/to/file/"; //Yeah it should be String

I'm using IntellijIDEA and I can include any files to my final jar but can't figure out where to place it. Thanks.

Answer 1

Just put your file into project's src folder - for example src/resource/file.txt . When you build your project, whole src content will be put in resulting jar. You can access your file with the following code:

this.getClass().getResource("/resource/file.txt");    

An example of reading all lines:

URL url = this.getClass().getResource("/resource/file.txt");
Path path = Paths.get(url.toURI());
List<String> lines = Files.readAllLines(path, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);    

Answer 2

You need something like the below

<target name="somejar" depends="compile">
      <jar jarfile="${somejar.jar}">
        <fileset dir="${bin.dir}">
          <include name="**/*.class"/>
        </fileset>
        <zipgroupfileset dir="lib" includes="*.jar"/>
        <fileset dir="${basedir}">
          <include name="config/*.properties"/>
          <include name="config/*.txt"/>
        </fileset>
      </jar>
    </target>

this will put all the needed class and property files together. You can code the location of file from the base of the project till you reach the file.