java.nio.channels

Defines channels, which represent connections to entities that are capable of performing I/O operations, such as files and sockets; defines selectors, for multiplexed, non-blocking I/O operations.

Lists channels and their descriptions

Channels	Description
Channel	A nexus for I/O operations
ReadableByteChannel	Can read into a buffer
ScatteringByteChannel	Can read into a sequence of buffers
WritableByteChannel	Can write from a buffer
GatheringByteChannel	Can write from a sequence of buffers
ByteChannel	Can read/write to/from a buffer
SeekableByteChannel	A ByteChannel connected to an entity that contains a variable-length sequence of bytes
AsynchronousChannel	Supports asynchronous I/O operations.
AsynchronousByteChannel	Can read and write bytes asynchronously
NetworkChannel	A channel to a network socket
MulticastChannel	Can join Internet Protocol (IP) multicast groups
Channels	Utility methods for channel/stream interoperation

A channel represents an open connection to an entity such as a hardware device, a file, a network socket, or a program component that is capable of performing one or more distinct I/O operations, for example reading or writing. As specified in the Channel interface, channels are either open or closed, and they are both asynchronously closeable and interruptible.

The Channel interface is extended by several other interfaces.

The ReadableByteChannel interface specifies a read method that reads bytes from the channel into a buffer; similarly, the WritableByteChannel interface specifies a write method that writes bytes from a buffer to the channel. The ByteChannel interface unifies these two interfaces for the common case of channels that can both read and write bytes. The SeekableByteChannel interface extends the ByteChannel interface with methods to query and modify the channel's current position, and its size.

The ScatteringByteChannel and GatheringByteChannel interfaces extend the ReadableByteChannel and WritableByteChannel interfaces, respectively, adding read and write methods that take a sequence of buffers rather than a single buffer.

The NetworkChannel interface specifies methods to bind the channel's socket, obtain the address to which the socket is bound, and methods to get and set socket options. The MulticastChannel interface specifies methods to join Internet Protocol (IP) multicast groups.

The Channels utility class defines static methods that support the interoperation of the stream classes of the java.io package with the channel classes of this package. An appropriate channel can be constructed from an InputStream or an OutputStream, and conversely an InputStream or an OutputStream can be constructed from a channel. A Reader can be constructed that uses a given charset to decode bytes from a given readable byte channel, and conversely a Writer can be constructed that uses a given charset to encode characters into bytes an