Using Quotes within getRuntime().exec

java exec runtime.exec
Daniel picture Daniel · Oct 2, 2008 · Viewed 19.2k times · Source

I'd like to invoke bash using a string as input. Something like:

sh -l -c "./foo"

I'd like to do this from Java. Unfortunately, when I try to invoke the command using getRuntime().exec, I get the following error: 

      foo": -c: line 0: unexpected EOF while looking for matching `"'

      foo": -c: line 1: syntax error: unexpected end of file

It seems to be related to my string not being terminated with an EOF.

Is there a way to insert a platform specific EOF into a Java string? Or should I be looking for another approach, like writing to a temp script before invoking "sh" ?

Answer

Chris Jester-Young picture Chris Jester-Young · Oct 2, 2008

Use this:

Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[] {"sh", "-l", "-c", "./foo"});

Main point: don't put the double quotes in. That's only used when writing a command-line in the shell!

e.g., echo "Hello, world!" (as typed in the shell) gets translated to:

Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[] {"echo", "Hello, world!"});

(Just forget for the moment that the shell normally has a builtin for echo, and is calling /bin/echo instead. :-))

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