Converting Java file:// URL to File(…) path, platform independent, including UNC paths

Based on the hint and link provided in Simone Giannis’ answer, this is my hack to fix this.

I am testing on uri.getAuthority(), because UNC path will report an Authority. This is a bug – so I rely on the existence of a bug, which is evil, but it apears as if this will stay forever (since Java 7 solves the problem in java.nio.Paths).

Note: In my context I will receive absolute paths. I have tested this on Windows and OS X.

(Still looking for a better way to do it)

package com.christianfries.test;

import java.io.File;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.URISyntaxException;
import java.net.URL;

public class UNCPathTest {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws MalformedURLException, URISyntaxException {
        UNCPathTest upt = new UNCPathTest();
        
        upt.testURL("file://server/dir/file.txt");  // Windows UNC Path

        upt.testURL("file:///Z:/dir/file.txt");     // Windows drive letter path
        
        upt.testURL("file:///dir/file.txt");        // Unix (absolute) path
    }

    private void testURL(String urlString) throws MalformedURLException, URISyntaxException {
        URL url = new URL(urlString);
        System.out.println("URL is: " + url.toString());

        URI uri = url.toURI();
        System.out.println("URI is: " + uri.toString());
        
        if(uri.getAuthority() != null && uri.getAuthority().length() > 0) {
            // Hack for UNC Path
            uri = (new URL("file://" + urlString.substring("file:".length()))).toURI();
        }

        File file = new File(uri);
        System.out.println("File is: " + file.toString());

        String parent = file.getParent();
        System.out.println("Parent is: " + parent);

        System.out.println("____________________________________________________________");
    }

}