Answer:
In Java, there are several file classes available for reading and writing files:
File: The File class is used to represent a file or a directory path in the system. It provides methods for checking file or directory existence, retrieving file properties, and manipulating files or directories. However, it does not provide methods for reading or writing the content of a file.
FileReader and FileWriter: The FileReader and FileWriter classes are used for reading and writing characters from and to a file, respectively. These classes work with character-oriented streams, providing convenience methods for reading or writing characters, arrays of characters, and strings.
BufferedReader and BufferedWriter: The BufferedReader and BufferedWriter classes are used for efficient reading and writing of characters from and to a file, respectively. They improve the performance by using a buffer to minimize the number of actual I/O operations. These classes work with character-oriented streams as well.
InputStream and OutputStream: The InputStream and OutputStream classes are used for reading and writing raw bytes from and to a file, respectively. These classes are the foundation for reading or writing any type of data in a file, including characters. They provide low-level methods for reading or writing bytes and byte arrays.
Scanner: The Scanner class can be used to parse primitive types and strings from a file. It provides methods for reading different types of data, such as integers, doubles, strings, and more. This class is helpful when reading formatted data from a file.
It's important to note that the File classes provide the foundation for file access and manipulation in Java, while the other classes build upon them, offering higher-level functionality and convenience methods for different types of data.