Java - class.getResource returns null

Question

I am using the following to get the URL of this particular file, but it returns null. Does anyone have any suggestions as to the problem or an alternate way to do this?

URL url = ExchangeInterceptor.class.getResource("GeoIP.dat"); 

Answer 1

For those who use Intellij Idea: check for Settings > Build, Execution, Deployment > Compiler > Resource patterns.

The setting contains all extensions that should be interpreted as resources. If an extension does not comply to any pattern here, class.getResource will return null for resources using this extension.

Answer 2

The path is relative to the classpath root and if you don't give an absolute path, it is looking in the same package as the class you're using (in this case ExchangeInterceptor). To find something in the root use /GeoIP.dat.