Is there a good way to determine if a file is executable in Java

Question

I'm aware you can call

Runtime.getRuntime().exec(file);

and get an exception if it is not executable, however this is unsafe since running an executable can have side effects.

I guess just checking the extension is enough on Windows, but is there a way I can read the executable bit on *nix file systems?

What is the best way to find out if an file is executable in the OS?

score 20 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 13 '11 at 13:34

20

See java.io.File.canExecute()

answered Jul 13 '11 at 13:34

wjans

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2

Cheers for that, I expected it would be called isExecutable so I started typing "is" in the auto complete. – Sindri Traustason Jul 13 '11 at 13:42
4

Just beware that this returns true for directories; so call to .isDirectory before .canExecute. – deprecated Mar 23 '13 at 22:08
10

This is probably not, what you are looking for, because ist may return true for "txt" – Christian Kuetbach Aug 29 '14 at 07:22
Why does a directory return true for this function? – android developer Mar 19 '16 at 21:37
4

This method returns true if the JVM is allowed to execute the file by the securitymanager. It gives no guarantee or even indication that the file is executable. – Martijn Jan 02 '17 at 11:06

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 07 '15 at 08:44

4

You can use Files class. It has this method static boolean isExecutable(Path path). If you have just a String of path then you can get Path using Paths class. Like this

Path path = Paths.get(pathToFile);

answered Dec 07 '15 at 08:44

BarBQ

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score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 13 '11 at 13:34

4

The class java.io.File has method canExecute().

answered Jul 13 '11 at 13:34

ncmathsadist

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Is there a good way to determine if a file is executable in Java

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