Execute bash script and pass arguments with spaces from java

Question

I know there are a lot of post about executing commands from Java but I just can't get this to work. Here is what I'm trying to do, I have a bash script, it receives 2 arguments which might or might not have spaces, then from Java I'm executing the script and passing the arguments like this(I'm surrounding the arguments with quotes and escaping them with backslashes):

String cmd = "/opt/myScript  \"/opt/myPath1\"  \"/opt/myPath2 with spaces\"";
Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
rt.exec(cmd);

I also tried to use the ProcessBuilder class like this:

String myScript = "/opt/myScript";
String myArg1= "/opt/myPath1";
String myArg2 = "/opt/myPath2 with spaces";
ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder(myScript , myArg1, myArg2);
pb.start;

Arguments with no spaces are received successfully but I still have problems with the second one.

I thought the ProcessBuilder class would handle the spaces but seems like I'm missing something.

I'm not sure if it has something to do, but just in case here is my script:

#!/bin/bash
PATH=$PATH:$1
gnome-terminal --working-directory $2

$1 and $2 are the arguments sent from Java.

What problem are you having? What values does your script receive with the ProcessBuilder? — Elliott Frisch
– Elliott Frisch, Commented Jul 29, 2015 at 23:43
You need to quote the expansion of the variables in the shell script too. Otherwise the shell will word split on the spaces. (Technically, it won't do this on the assignment line but quoting there is safer if you want to be extra sure.) — Etan Reisner
– Etan Reisner, Commented Jul 29, 2015 at 23:44
Possibly duplicate of stackoverflow.com/questions/17141767/… — Felipe Arenales
– Felipe Arenales, Commented Jul 30, 2015 at 3:28
@Elliott, it works now, I just surrounded both variables $1 and $2 with quotes, I guess it will work on Mac too, thanks. — CIOC
– CIOC, Commented Jul 30, 2015 at 4:57

Tou Hat · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-14 14:17:00Z

2

Get the same trouble, finally solved with:

Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[]{"bash", "-c", <command with spaces>});

answered Mar 14, 2019 at 14:17

Tou Hat

695 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Tou Hat Over a year ago

with -c option, the following command is read as a string, with all spaces and special chars

Zaboj Campula · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-30 16:34:16Z

Runtime.exec() is an overloaded method. There are several possible ways how to call it. The call exec(String command) executes the specified string command but the argument are separated by spaces here. The method exec(String[] cmdarray) executes the specified command and arguments. There are other exec() variants but the best for you is

String cmd[] = new String[] {"/opt/myScript", "/opt/myPath1", "/opt/myPath2 with spaces" };
Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
rt.exec(cmd);

It is possible to use ProcessBuilder can be used as well for argument passing. I think the only error is missing parenthesis after pb.start.

And last but not least the script has a major bug. It does not contain quutes arround $2. It should be

#!/bin/bash
PATH="$PATH:$1"
gnome-terminal --working-directory "$2"

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Execute bash script and pass arguments with spaces from java

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related