unit testing - Test value(s) for an invalid Linux path-name for Java code

Question

I'm unit testing some Java code that must parse an input String as a path-name. I'm using Java 7, so the parsed value is a Path object.

The Paths.get method will throw an InvalidPathException

if the path string cannot be converted to a Path

So, to check my parsing code is robust I need a test value that will cause Paths.get to throw that exception. That is, a String value that is not a valid path. What constitutes a valid path is system (even file-system) dependent, so I am specifically interested in a String that is not a valid POSIX path, or (failing that) not a valid Linux path.

Answer 1

POSIX path-names may not contain null characters. Therefore a String that consists of a single NUL character (Unicode code-point 0) will be invalid. That is, the String "". I can confirm that Open JDK throws a InvalidPathException, with the message Nul character not allowed, for this case.