What is the package for input and output operations in Java?

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What is the package for input and output operations in Java? The answer is `java.io`. This package contains Java’s classic stream-based APIs for reading and writing data.

The name stands for Java input/output. Its classes support byte streams, character streams, files, buffering, serialization, and other fundamental operations. `InputStream` and `OutputStream` handle binary data, while `Reader` and `Writer` are designed for character data. Classes such as `File`, `BufferedReader`, `FileInputStream`, and `FileOutputStream` are common examples.

A frequent mix-up is `java.nio`, which provides newer non-blocking and buffer-oriented I/O APIs, including `java.nio.file`. The `java.net` package handles networking, `java.util` supplies collections and utility classes, and `java.lang` contains core language classes that Java imports automatically. Although newer code often uses NIO.2 or higher-level libraries, `java.io` remains an important part of the Java platform and appears throughout older and current applications.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026

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