How do I execute Windows commands in Java?

Question

I'm working on a project, and it will give you a list of Windows commands. When you select one, it will perform that command. However, I don't know how to do that. I was going to do it in Visual C#, or C++, but C++ classes are too complicated, and I don't want to make the forms and junk in Visual C# (really bad at console applications).

Solution 1

I hope this helps :)

You could use:

Runtime.getRuntime().exec("ENTER COMMAND HERE");

Solution 2

Take advantage of the ProcessBuilder.

It makes it easier to build the process parameters and takes care of issues with having spaces in commands automatically...

public class TestProcessBuilder {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        try {
            ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("cmd", "/c", "dir");
            pb.redirectError();
            Process p = pb.start();
            InputStreamConsumer isc = new InputStreamConsumer(p.getInputStream());
            isc.start();
            int exitCode = p.waitFor();

            isc.join();
            System.out.println("Process terminated with " + exitCode);
        } catch (IOException | InterruptedException exp) {
            exp.printStackTrace();
        }

    }

    public static class InputStreamConsumer extends Thread {

        private InputStream is;

        public InputStreamConsumer(InputStream is) {
            this.is = is;
        }

        @Override
        public void run() {

            try {
                int value = -1;
                while ((value = is.read()) != -1) {
                    System.out.print((char)value);
                }
            } catch (IOException exp) {
                exp.printStackTrace();
            }

        }

    }
}

I'd generally build a all purpose class, which you could pass in the "command" (such as "dir") and it's parameters, that would append the call out to the OS automatically. I would also included the ability to get the output, probably via a listener callback interface and even input, if the command allowed input...

Solution 3

This is a sample code to run and print the output of the ipconfig command in the console window.

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;

public class ExecuteDOSCommand {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        final String dosCommand = "ipconfig";
        try {
            final Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(dosCommand );
            final InputStream in = process.getInputStream();
            int ch;
            while((ch = in.read()) != -1) {
                System.out.print((char)ch);
            }
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Source: https://www.codepuran.com/java/execute-dos-command-java/

Solution 4

Old question but might help someone passing by. This is a simple and working solution. Some of the above solutions don't work.

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;

public class ExecuteDOSCommand
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        final String dosCommand = "cmd /c dir /s";
        final String location = "C:\\WINDOWS\\system32";
        try
        {
            final Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(dosCommand + " " + location);
            final InputStream in = process.getInputStream();
            int ch;
            while((ch = in.read()) != -1)
            {
                System.out.print((char)ch);
            }
        }
        catch (IOException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Source: http://www.devx.com/tips/Tip/42644

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