Streams permit the Java developer to handle files. In other words, a file can be read or created by the use of streams. To read a file, a file input stream reader can be combined with a buffered reader. A record from the file can then be presented to an application. To create a file, a file output writer can be combined with a print writer object to write a stream of data to a file. To learn how to handle Java files with streams, follow these four steps.