open resource with relative path in Java

I had problems with using the getClass().getResource("filename.txt") method.Upon reading the Java docs instructions, if your resource is not in the same package as the class you are trying to access the resource from, then you have to give it relative path starting with '/'. The recommended strategy is to put your resource files under a "resources" folder in the root directory. So for example if you have the structure:

src/main/com/mycompany/myapp

then you can add a resources folder as recommended by maven in:

src/main/resources

furthermore you can add subfolders in the resources folder

src/main/resources/textfiles

and say that your file is called myfile.txt so you have

src/main/resources/textfiles/myfile.txt

Now here is where the stupid path problem comes in. Say you have a class in your com.mycompany.myapp package, and you want to access the myfile.txt file from your resource folder. Some say you need to give the:

"/main/resources/textfiles/myfile.txt" path

or

"/resources/textfiles/myfile.txt"

both of these are wrong. After I ran mvn clean compile, the files and folders are copied in the:

myapp/target/classes 

folder. But the resources folder is not there, just the folders in the resources folder. So you have:

myapp/target/classes/textfiles/myfile.txtmyapp/target/classes/com/mycompany/myapp/*

so the correct path to give to the getClass().getResource("") method is:

"/textfiles/myfile.txt"

here it is:

getClass().getResource("/textfiles/myfile.txt")

This will no longer return null, but will return your class.I hope this helps somebody. It is strange to me, that the "resources" folder is not copied as well, but only the subfolders and files directly in the "resources" folder. It would seem logical to me that the "resources" folder would also be found under "myapp/target/classes"

Supply the path relative to the classloader, not the class you're getting the loader from. For instance:

resourcesloader.class.getClassLoader().getResource("package1/resources/repository/SSL-Key/cert.jks").toString();

In the hopes of providing additional information for those who don't pick this up as quickly as others, I'd like to provide my scenario as it has a slightly different setup. My project was setup with the following directory structure (using Eclipse):

Project/  src/                // application source code    org/      myproject/        MyClass.java  test/               // unit tests  res/                // resources    images/           // PNG images for icons      my-image.png    xml/              // XSD files for validating XML files with JAXB      my-schema.xsd    conf/             // default .conf file for Log4j      log4j.conf  lib/                // libraries added to build-path via project settings

I was having issues loading my resources from the res directory. I wanted all my resources separate from my source code (simply for managment/organization purposes). So, what I had to do was add the res directory to the build-path and then access the resource via:

static final ClassLoader loader = MyClass.class.getClassLoader();// in some functionloader.getResource("images/my-image.png");loader.getResource("xml/my-schema.xsd");loader.getResource("conf/log4j.conf");

NOTE: The / is omitted from the beginning of the resource string because I am using ClassLoader.getResource(String) instead of Class.getResource(String).