ProcessBuilder won't run with arguments

Question

I am trying to run "java -version" using ProcessBuilder:

processBuilder = new ProcessBuilder("java -version");
process = processBuilder.start();

However I get an error:

java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "java -version": CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified

When I remove the "-version" and do:

processBuilder = new ProcessBuilder("java");
process = processBuilder.start();

it runs fine and I get the normal help guide output.

How can I get it to run the argument too?

Sorry! I did try searching for a similar question to this but I hadn't tried searching for "parameter".. — user2513924, Oct 13 '13 at 14:03

score 11 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 13 '13 at 13:58

11

The complete argument is being interpreted as the executable. Use

ProcessBuilder processBuilder = new ProcessBuilder("java", "-version");

answered Oct 13 '13 at 13:58

Reimeus

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Thanks! I really should've just checked the docs :S – user2513924 Oct 13 '13 at 14:03
@user2513924 Yes, you [should have done](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/182266/how-much-research-effort-is-expected-of-stack-overflow-users). – Boris the Spider Oct 13 '13 at 14:19

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

0

Constructor Summary

ProcessBuilder(List command) - Constructs a process builder with the specified operating system program and arguments.

ProcessBuilder(String... command) - Constructs a process builder with the specified operating system program and arguments.

So you need to use:

ProcessBuilder processBuilder = new ProcessBuilder("java", "-version");

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered Oct 13 '13 at 14:09

ST3

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score -2 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 13 '13 at 14:59

You are probably making this unnecessarily complicated. If all you want to do is find out the version of Java you are running on, use System.getProperty("java.specification.version").

Also, your code will fail if Java is not on the PATH, but this way will still work.

ProcessBuilder won't run with arguments

3 Answers3

Constructor Summary

Linked