Interfaces and classes providing access to file and file system attributes.

Attribute views Description

java.nio.file.attribute.AttributeView Can read or update non-opaque values associated with objects in a file system

  java.nio.file.attribute.FileAttributeView Can read or update file attributes

    java.nio.file.attribute.BasicFileAttributeView   Can read or update a basic set of file attributes

      java.nio.file.attribute.PosixFileAttributeView   Can read or update POSIX defined file attributes

      java.nio.file.attribute.DosFileAttributeView   Can read or update FAT file attributes

    java.nio.file.attribute.FileOwnerAttributeView   Can read or update the owner of a file

     java.nio.file.attribute.AclFileAttributeView   Can read or update Access Control Lists

    java.nio.file.attribute.UserDefinedFileAttributeView   Can read or update user-defined file attributes

  java.nio.file.attribute.FileStoreAttributeView Can read or update file system attributes

Attribute views	Description
`java.nio.file.attribute.AttributeView`	Can read or update non-opaque values associated with objects in a file system
`java.nio.file.attribute.FileAttributeView`	Can read or update file attributes
`java.nio.file.attribute.BasicFileAttributeView`	Can read or update a basic set of file attributes
`java.nio.file.attribute.PosixFileAttributeView`	Can read or update POSIX defined file attributes
`java.nio.file.attribute.DosFileAttributeView`	Can read or update FAT file attributes
`java.nio.file.attribute.FileOwnerAttributeView`	Can read or update the owner of a file
`java.nio.file.attribute.AclFileAttributeView`	Can read or update Access Control Lists
`java.nio.file.attribute.UserDefinedFileAttributeView`	Can read or update user-defined file attributes
`java.nio.file.attribute.FileStoreAttributeView`	Can read or update file system attributes

An attribute view provides a read-only or updatable view of the non-opaque values, or metadata, associated with objects in a file system. The java.nio.file.attribute.FileAttributeView interface is extended by several other interfaces that that views to specific sets of file attributes. FileAttributeViews are selected by invoking the java.nio.file.Files.getFileAttributeView method with a type-token to identify the required view. Views can also be identified by name. The java.nio.file.attribute.FileStoreAttributeView interface provides access to file store attributes. A FileStoreAttributeView of a given type is obtained by invoking the java.nio.file.FileStore.getFileStoreAttributeView method.

The java.nio.file.attribute.BasicFileAttributeView class defines methods to read and update a basic set of file attributes that are common to many file systems.

The java.nio.file.attribute.PosixFileAttributeView interface extends BasicFileAttributeView by defining methods to access the file attributes commonly used by file systems and operating systems that implement the Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) family of standards.

The java.nio.file.attribute.DosFileAttributeView class extends BasicFileAttributeView by defining methods to access the legacy "DOS" file attributes supported on file systems such as File Allocation Tabl (FAT), commonly used in consumer devices.

The java.nio.file.attribute.AclFileAttributeView class defines methods to read and write the Access Control List (ACL) file attribute. The ACL model used by this file attribute view is based on the model defined by RFC 3530: Network File System (NFS) version 4 Protocol.

In addition to attribute views, this package also defines classes and interfaces that are used when accessing attributes:

The java.nio.file.attribute.UserPrincipal and java.nio.file.attribute.GroupPrincipal interfaces represent an identity or group identity.
The java.nio.file.attribute.UserPrincipalLookupService interface defines methods to lookup user or group principals.
The java.nio.file.attribute.FileAttribute interface represents the value of an attribute for cases where the attribute value is required to be set atomically when creating an object in the file system.

Unless otherwise noted, passing a null argument to a constructor or method in any class or interface in this package will cause a NullPointerException to be thrown.

Since: 1.7