Does the File(String) constructor create a file?

Question

When we use the constructor method File f = new File(aquiVemOEnderecoDoArquivo), if the file does not exist, it is created?

Answer 1

No, the class builder File creates a representative instance of the path you enter from the file or directory, but nothing is created in the File System by the builder, as can be seen in the griffin below, taken from the own documentation:

Instances of this class may or may not denote an actual file-system Object such as a file or a directory. If it does denote such an Object then that Object resides in a Partition. A Partition is an Operating system-specific Portion of Storage for a file system. The single Storage device (e.g. Physical disk-drive, flash memory, CD-ROM) may contain Multiple Partitions. The Object, if any, will reside on the Partition named by some Ancestor of the Absolute form of this pathname.

In free translation:

Instances of this class may or may not denote a real file system object, such as a file or a directory. If it denotes such an object, then that object resides in a partition. A partition is a specific part of the storage operating system for a file system. A single storage device (e.g., a physical disk drive, flash memory, CD-ROM) can contain multiple partitions. The object, if any, will reside in the partition named by some ancestor of the absolute form of that path name.

If you want to check in practice, you can run the code below, which will create an instance of a non-existent text file in your user folder. First you will check the existence, then you will create the file and check again. You can follow up with your open user folder.

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;

public class FileClassTest {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

        String userDir = System.getProperty("user.home");

        File  file = new File(userDir + System.getProperty("file.separator") + "someUnknownFile.txt");

        System.out.println(file.exists());

        file.createNewFile();

        System.out.println(file.exists());

    }
}

Remembering that the code will only return false the first time it is executed, because when executing file.createNewFile();, the file will be created in File System.

Answer 2

Does not create.

The documentation says the following:

File(String pathname)

Creates a new File instance by Converting the Given pathname string into an Abstract pathname.

As the text informs, an abstract path is created, that is, physically nonexistent. The file itself is actually created only when you use methods that write (or prepare writing) effectively on the disk. The code below allows you to prove this:

File f = new File("teste.txt");
System.out.println(f.exists()); //false
OutputStream anOutputStream = new FileOutputStream(f.getName());
System.out.println(f.exists()); //true

Answer 3

Based on the comments of the publication and on a few minutes I spent thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that the constructor File(String path) does not create a file. I can say this because if the constructor created the file, the existence of the function exists() and createNewFile() would be useless.