Module java.base
Package java.io

Class FilePermission

java.lang.Object
java.security.Permission
java.io.FilePermission
All Implemented Interfaces:
Serializable, Guard

public final class FilePermission extends Permission implements Serializable
This class represents access to a file or directory. A FilePermission consists of a pathname and a set of actions valid for that pathname.

Pathname is the pathname of the file or directory granted the specified actions. A pathname that ends in "/*" (where "/" is the file separator character, File.separatorChar) indicates all the files and directories contained in that directory. A pathname that ends with "/-" indicates (recursively) all files and subdirectories contained in that directory. Such a pathname is called a wildcard pathname. Otherwise, it's a simple pathname.

A pathname consisting of the special token "<<ALL FILES>>" matches any file.

Note: A pathname consisting of a single "*" indicates all the files in the current directory, while a pathname consisting of a single "-" indicates all the files in the current directory and (recursively) all files and subdirectories contained in the current directory.

The actions to be granted are passed to the constructor in a string containing a list of one or more comma-separated keywords. The possible keywords are "read", "write", "execute", "delete", and "readlink". Their meaning is defined as follows:

read
read permission
write
write permission
execute
execute permission. Allows Runtime.exec to be called. Corresponds to SecurityManager.checkExec.
delete
delete permission. Allows File.delete to be called. Corresponds to SecurityManager.checkDelete.
readlink
read link permission. Allows the target of a symbolic link to be read by invoking the readSymbolicLink method.

The actions string is converted to lowercase before processing.

Be careful when granting FilePermissions. Think about the implications of granting read and especially write access to various files and directories. The "<<ALL FILES>>" permission with write action is especially dangerous. This grants permission to write to the entire file system. One thing this effectively allows is replacement of the system binary, including the JVM runtime environment.

Please note: Code can always read a file from the same directory it's in (or a subdirectory of that directory); it does not need explicit permission to do so.

Since:
1.2
See Also: