getResourceAsStream returns null

Question

I'm loading a text file from within a package in a compiled JAR of my Java project. The relevant directory structure is as follows:

/src/initialization/Lifepaths.txt

The code being used to load the file is:

public class Lifepaths {

    public static void execute() {

        System.out.println(Lifepaths.class.getClass().

            getResourceAsStream("/initialization/Lifepaths.txt"));

    }

    private Lifepaths() {}

    //This is temporary; will eventually be called from outside

    public static void main(String[] args) {execute();}

}

The print out will always print null, no matter what I use. I'm not sure why the above wouldn't work, so I've also tried:

• "/src/initialization/Lifepaths.txt"
• "initialization/Lifepaths.txt"
• "Lifepaths.txt"

Answer 1

Lifepaths.class.getClass().getResourceAsStream(...) loads resources using system class loader, it obviously fails because it does not see your JARs Lifepaths.class.getResourceAsStream(...) loads resources using the same class loader that loaded Lifepaths class and it should have access to resources in your JARs