Java println: Windows vs Linux

Question

I have a java program that writes a file to a remote machine file system using the jcifs library -samba stuff; SmbFile=>SmbFileOutputStream=>PrintStream and the I use the common println(String). Everything worked fine till I moved my application to a linux machine and now the printed file on my remote windows machine looks weird.

I believe the problem is how the two OSs handle the CR, LF that are inserted by the println() function. My 'jar' is executed once a day and it's triggered by the 'crontab' through a 'sh' launch file.

Is there a way to fix the issue without touching the java code?
Is there a way to write a java program to make it work on both kind of OSs (possibly all of them)?

Thank you

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

4

Try playing around with the system property "line.separator". You can read this for reference.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

Community

1
1

answered Jun 23 '11 at 18:11

Suraj Chandran

24,433
12
63
94

2

Thanks! 'java -jar -Dline.separator=$'\r\n' FileName.jar' did the job for a windows machine without modifying the jar file. – Marsellus Wallace Jun 23 '11 at 19:45

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 23 '11 at 18:16

0

If your java file runs in a linux machine println will use the linux standard "\n" If you want it to allways use \r\n, without changing system properties, simply replace your println("text") with print("text\r\n"). Or create a custom function printWindowsLine to do that

edited Jun 23 '11 at 18:16

crowne

8,456
3
35
50

answered Jun 23 '11 at 18:14

Pablo Grisafi

5,039
1
19
29

Rather than a custom function, see the line.separator system property mentioned by @Suraj – crowne Jun 23 '11 at 18:17
I rather use a custom method. I don't want to mess with system wide properties that can affect everything that runs in the same jvm. But it is up to you. – Pablo Grisafi Jun 23 '11 at 19:57
\r\n or custom functions will both link my jar to a specific OS, I was hoping in something more flexible. The line.separator would get the property of the system where the jar is launched, right? And this wouldn't work either if I save the file in a remote machine I guess.. Suraj's solution works well and require only a little extra configuration – Marsellus Wallace Jun 23 '11 at 20:07

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 23 '11 at 18:14

0

You will have to change the new line separator in the file. In linux, there is a utility called dos2unix that converts the new line separator of an existing file from dos/windows to linux/unix.

answered Jun 23 '11 at 18:14

gouki

4,382
3
20
20

thanks, but I would have to go the way around -unix2dos- and plus this would be hard to integrate in the way my solution works. – Marsellus Wallace Jun 23 '11 at 20:01

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 23 '11 at 18:15

System.out.println is a PrintStream, which uses the environment setting for line.separator as its, well, line separator. One solution to your problem would be to pass in -Dline.separator argument.

Probably the best solution though is to just use view your file with a better editor. Notepad++ and many others on Windows will understand both types of line endings, while notepad will not. Even the builtin wordpad does a better job of displaying unix file endings.

I love Notepad++! But unfortunately (or fortunately) the file doesn't have to be read by a human — Marsellus Wallace, Jun 23 '11 at 19:57

Java println: Windows vs Linux

4 Answers4