Final answer:
When you pass the name of a file to a print writer constructor, the default behavior is that the existing file will be erased, and a new empty one will be created. To append instead of overwrite, a different constructor or parameter must be used.
Step-by-step explanation:
When you pass the name of a file to the print writer constructor and the file already exists, the existing file will be erased and a new empty file with the same name will be created. This behavior corresponds to initiating a PrintWriter in Java (or similar languages) where, unless explicitly specified to append to the file, the default action is to overwrite the file.
This means that if there is any content in the file, it will be lost, and the file will be treated as a new, empty file ready for writing operations.
If the intention is to append to the file without erasing the existing content, you must use the constructor that enables appending, typically by passing a second argument indicating the append mode (true).
To avoid accidental data loss, developers should always ensure they are using the correct file-writing mode, whether it's overwrite or append, depending on the requirement of their program.