Java - taking multiple paths as command line arguments whitespace issue

Question

Let's say I want to pass the following paths on the command line:

Path a: C:\example a\test
Path b: C:\example b\test\

java -jar myjar.jar C:\example a\test C:\example b\test\

Java splits arguments using whitespace, so we would end up with an args array like this:

arr[0] = C:\example
arr[1] = a\test
arr[2] = C:\example
arr[3] = b\test\

But if we also want to accept non-absolute paths, so supplying "\test" will cause the program to accept that as <parent directory>\test.

This gives a lot of problems and is much more complicated than it first appears. How do we tell Java that "a\test" is actually a part of "C:\example a\test" rather than "<parent directory>\a\test"?

Enclose the paths in quotes.

Rohit Jain
– Rohit Jain

2013-08-21 18:43:18 +00:00
Commented Aug 21, 2013 at 18:43 — Rohit Jain
– Rohit Jain, Commented Aug 21, 2013 at 18:43
Did you try surrounding the path in quotes?

Antimony
– Antimony

2013-08-21 18:43:47 +00:00
Commented Aug 21, 2013 at 18:43 — Antimony
– Antimony, Commented Aug 21, 2013 at 18:43

Jeffrey Bosboom · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-28 15:34:01Z

1

Use quotes:

java -jar myjar.jar "C:\example a\test" "C:\example b\test\"

edited Feb 28, 2015 at 15:34

Jeffrey Bosboom

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answered Aug 21, 2013 at 19:04

iPouf

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Comments

Trinimon · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-21 19:16:45Z

0

Create a canonical file and extract the absolute name from it:

try {
    File file = (new File(arr[0])).getCanonicalFile();
    arr[0] = file.getAbsolutePath();

} catch (IOException e) {
    // handle exception
}

This way you can compare them.

edited Aug 21, 2013 at 19:16

answered Aug 21, 2013 at 19:07

Trinimon

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