Cannot Add new Lines

[capjoel]

Hi, I'm trying to write a program that can be used to update a text file, I've got it so it will write a line depending on what the user inputs but each time it runs it overwrites what is already in the file rather than writing it in the same document

import java.util.Scanner;
import java.io.*;

public class dateupdate
{
    public static void main (String[] args)throws IOException
    {
    	Scanner inputVal = new Scanner(System.in);
        FileWriter first = new FileWriter(new File("first.txt"));

//here I am trying to get it to read what is already in the file and writing that to the document again

    BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("first.txt"));
    String str;
    while ((str = in.readLine()) != null) {
        first.write(str);
        System.out.println(str);

    }
    in.close();


String service,time;
String d;

//This is where the user inputs the data
System.out.println("Please type in the date of the service");
d=inputVal.nextLine();

System.out.println("Please type in the name of the service");
service=inputVal.nextLine();

System.out.println("Please write in the time using 24hr clock e.g.10.00am");
time=inputVal.nextLine();

//This is where it writes the new data
//Write Date
        first.write(d);    //The following lines writes
//Write st,nd,rd,th
if (d.equals("1"))
	{first.write("st");}
else if (d.equals("2"))
	{first.write("nd");}
else if (d.equals("3"))
	{first.write("rd");}
else
{first.write("th");}

first.write("   ");

first.write(service);

first.write("	");

first.write(time);

        first.close();                           //Closes the file


    } // main method
} // Firstfile class

[eRaaaa]

Take a look into the API doc and at the other contructors -->
FileWriter
:)

[lovelesh]

I suggest reading the whole file first, append all lines to a stringbuffer/stringbuilder, once all lines are read, write the stringbuffer/stringbuilder object back to file and then start writing new lines.

Otherwise, you can keep different name for new file. Once you are done with writing - delete the original file and rename the new file to "first.txt"

[Solarsonic]

User a BufferedWriter and then use the newLine() method.