CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javapathexec
dariober
dariober

Reputation: 9062

Execute program on user's PATH within Java

Within a Java 1.8 program, how can I execute a program on the user's PATH? For simplicity let's assume that only *nix systems have to be supported. What I want to do is something like:

Runtime.getRuntime().exec("myProgram")

where myProgram is somewhere on the user's PATH.

Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd) can only "see" programs on the system's path. For example in my case (mac os) /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin, but what if myProgram is in /usr/local/bin or ~/bin?

I tried to get the directories on the user's PATH by parsing the output of Runtime.getRuntime().exec("echo $PATH"), but I get back only the string "$PATH" itself, not the actual content of the PATH variable.

EDIT Executing System.getenv() gives me only PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin, i.e. not the user's PATH.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 341

Answers (2)

AGdev
AGdev

Reputation: 616

String userPath = System.getenv("PATH");

If it returns a null string then try exporting that $PATH variable before running your java program.

Upvotes: 0

ejgreenwald
ejgreenwald

Reputation: 182

If you want to get the actual content of the PATH variable you can use:

System.getenv():

Good luck!

Upvotes: 1

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