Java -version still saying Java 1.7

Question

I just installed JRE 8 from here but when I run java -version it produces the following output still:

My-MacBook-Pro-2:~ myusername$ java -version
java version "1.7.0_21"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_21-b12)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.21-b01, mixed mode)

Why is this?

Because you still have Java 7 on your command search path. Read up on what the command search path is for the Mac. — Stephen C, May 18 '15 at 13:35
how do I do that? Just tried echo $JAVA_HOME but it produced nothing — Apollo, May 18 '15 at 13:35
OP, please see [this question](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6588390/where-is-java-home-on-osx-yosemite-10-10-mavericks-10-9-mountain-lion-10) — Woodrow Barlow, May 18 '15 at 13:37

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered May 18 '15 at 13:42

export JAVA_HOME=<path_to_jre_8>
export PATH="$JAVA_HOME/bin":$PATH

will tell the shell to use the java command from $JAVA_HOME/bin directory.

But this will only last for the current session.

You can put the same in ~/.bashrc for bash shell or the login config for the shell that you use.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 18 '15 at 14:41

Here is simple function in ~/.bash_profile file. Allows you to easy switch between JDK versions in MacOS.

function setjdk() {
  if [ $# -ne 0 ]; then
   removeFromPath '/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Home/bin'
   if [ -n "${JAVA_HOME+x}" ]; then
    removeFromPath $JAVA_HOME
   fi
   export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v $@`
   export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH
  fi
 }
 function removeFromPath() {
  export PATH=$(echo $PATH | sed -E -e "s;:$1;;" -e "s;$1:?;;")
 }
setjdk 1.8

Java -version still saying Java 1.7

2 Answers2