Unable to execute a command if it contains spaces using java

Question

Issue:- If the executable command contain's any spaces then System.exec is omitting the string content after the first space.

For example:- if command="/opt/GUIInstaller/installers/abc def gh.bin" Then java is executing command up-to /opt/GUIInstaller/installers/abc only and resulting a error like java.io.IOException: "/opt/GUIInstaller/installers/abc": error=2, No such file or directory

protected void launch(final String command) 
{
    try 
    {
        if(command.contains("null"))
        {
            logger.error("Installer is not located in the specified folder: "+command);
            System.exit(0);
        }
        runTime.exec(command);
    }
    catch (IOException ioException) {
        logger.error(ioException.getMessage(), ioException);
    }
}

Is I am doing any mistake, please help me to solve this issue.

Environment:- Java7 update9 + RHEL6

Try "/opt/GUIInstaller/installers/abc\\ def\\ gh.bin" to escape the spaces — Tom
– Tom, Commented May 29, 2013 at 11:13

creinig · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-29 11:17:56Z

3

As described in the javadocs of Process#exec(), exec(String) simply splits the given command string into tokens via StringTokenizer. If you do that job jourself by passing tokens to exec(), spaces in there are no problem:

runTime.exec(new String[] {"/opt/GUIInstaller/installers/abc def gh.bin", "--param1=foo"});

answered May 29, 2013 at 11:17

creinig

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3 Comments

kgopi Over a year ago

Even the solution is working, installer is not launched(I mean GUI window not appeared), if I tried it manually I am able to launch the installer window, even I check the process output its not giving any error. Please help me to solve this issue.

kgopi Over a year ago

At-least let me know --param1=foo argument what it will do

creinig Over a year ago

Oh. This is just some random commandline parameter to illustrate how you'd specify those. If your command doesn't take any parameters, you don't need that.

Dropout · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-29 11:28:06Z

0

Add

if(command.contains(" ")){command.replace(" ","\\ ");}

before the runTime.exec(command);

This basically just replaces spaces with escaped spaces..

Edit: Or to make it smoother try to execute this

runTime.exec(command.replace(" ","\\ "));

without adding the aforementioned line..

edited May 29, 2013 at 11:28

answered May 29, 2013 at 11:15

Dropout

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4 Comments

Tom Over a year ago

You could probably do away with the if statement there, if there's no space the replace will silently do nothing.

Dropout Over a year ago

Yes, I thought of that after posting. That's why I edited it. Thanks for your notice though ;)

Marko Topolnik Over a year ago

"\ " is not an acceptable Java string literal. If you need a backslash in a string, you must escape it.

Marko Topolnik Over a year ago

@kgopi Listen to creinig's advice, that's the correct one. Don't let Runtime.exec parse your command line.

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