Read first bytes of a file

Question

I need a very simple function that allows me to read the first 1k bytes of a file through FTP. I want to use it in MATLAB to read the first lines and, according to some parameters, to download only files I really need eventually. I found some examples online that unfortunately do not work. Here I'm proposing the sample code where I'm trying to download one single file (I'm using the Apache libraries).

FTPClient client = new FTPClient();
    FileOutputStream fos = null;

    try {
        client.connect("data.site.org");

        // filename to be downloaded. 
        String filename = "filename.Z";
        fos = new FileOutputStream(filename);

        // Download file from FTP server
        InputStream stream = client.retrieveFileStream("/pub/obs/2008/021/ab120210.08d.Z");
        byte[] b = new byte[1024];
        stream.read(b);
        fos.write(b);

    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } finally {
        try {
            if (fos != null) {
                fos.close();
            }
            client.disconnect();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

the error is in stream which is returned empty. I know I'm passing the folder name in a wrong way, but I cannot understand how I have to do. I've tried in many way.

I've also tried with the URL's Java classes as:

    URL url;

    url = new URL("ftp://data.site.org/pub/obs/2008/021/ab120210.08d.Z");

    URLConnection con = url.openConnection();
    BufferedInputStream in =
            new BufferedInputStream(con.getInputStream());
    FileOutputStream out =
            new FileOutputStream("C:\\filename.Z");

    int i;
    byte[] bytesIn = new byte[1024];
    if ((i = in.read(bytesIn)) >= 0) {
        out.write(bytesIn);
    }
    out.close();
    in.close();

but it is giving an error when I'm closing the InputStream in!

I'm definitely stuck. Some comments about would be very useful!

Answer 1

Try this test

    InputStream is = new URL("ftp://test:[email protected]/bookstore.xml").openStream();
    byte[] a = new byte[1000];
    int n = is.read(a);
    is.close();
    System.out.println(new String(a, 0, n));

it definitely works