code: public static Properties loadPropertiesFromClasspath(String _propertiesFile) throws IOException {
          InputStream is = FileIoUtil.class.getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream(_propertiesFile);
          if (is == null) {
              throw new IOException("Resource [" + _propertiesFile + "] not found in classpath.");
          }
  
          Properties props = readProperties(is);
          return props;
      }
docs: Loads the contents of a properties file located in the Java classpath
  into a {@link Properties} object.
  @param _propertiesFile properties file located in Java classpath
  @return properties object
  @throws IOException if file not found or loading fails for other I/O reasons