Loading a properties file from Java package

When loading the Properties from a Class in the package com.al.common.email.templates you can use

Properties prop = new Properties();
InputStream in = getClass().getResourceAsStream("foo.properties");
prop.load(in);
in.close();

(Add all the necessary exception handling).

If your class is not in that package, you need to aquire the InputStream slightly differently:

InputStream in = 
 getClass().getResourceAsStream("/com/al/common/email/templates/foo.properties");

Relative paths (those without a leading '/') in getResource()/getResourceAsStream() mean that the resource will be searched relative to the directory which represents the package the class is in.

Using java.lang.String.class.getResource("foo.txt") would search for the (inexistent) file /java/lang/String/foo.txt on the classpath.

Using an absolute path (one that starts with '/') means that the current package is ignored.

To add to Joachim Sauer's answer, if you ever need to do this in a static context, you can do something like the following:

static {
  Properties prop = new Properties();
  InputStream in = CurrentClassName.class.getResourceAsStream("foo.properties");
  prop.load(in);
  in.close()
}

(Exception handling elided, as before.)