Exec.java Provides static methods for running external processes from applications.

import java.io.*;

/** A class that eases the pain of running external processes
 *  from applications. Lets you run a program three ways:
 *  


     *     
    exec: Execute the command, returning
     *         immediately even if the command is still running.
     *         This would be appropriate for printing a file.
     *     
    execWait: Execute the command, but don?t
     *         return until the command finishes. This would be
     *         appropriate for sequential commands where the first
     *         depends on the second having finished (e.g.,
     *         javac followed by java).
     *     
    execPrint: Execute the command and print the
     *          output. This would be appropriate for the Unix
     *          command ls.
     *  


 *  Note that the PATH is not taken into account, so you must
 *  specify the full pathname to the command, and shell
 *  built-in commands will not work. For instance, on Unix the
 *  above three examples might look like:
 *  


     *    

    Exec.exec("/usr/ucb/lpr Some-File");


     *    

    Exec.execWait("/usr/local/bin/javac Foo.java");
     *        Exec.execWait("/usr/local/bin/java Foo");


     *    

    Exec.execPrint("/usr/bin/ls -al");


     *  


 *
 *  Taken from Core Web Programming from
 *  Prentice Hall and Sun Microsystems Press,
 *  .
 *  © 2001 Marty Hall and Larry Brown;
 *  may be freely used or adapted.
 */

public class Exec {

  private static boolean verbose = true;

  /** Determines if the Exec class should print which commands
    * are being executed, and prints error messages if a problem
    * is found. Default is true.
    *
    * @param verboseFlag true: print messages, false: don?t.
    */

  public static void setVerbose(boolean verboseFlag) {
    verbose = verboseFlag;
  }

  /** Will Exec print status messages? */

  public static boolean getVerbose() {
    return(verbose);
  }

  /** Starts a process to execute the command. Returns
    * immediately, even if the new process is still running.
    *
    * @param command The full pathname of the command to
    * be executed. No shell built-ins (e.g., "cd") or shell
    * meta-chars (e.g. ">") are allowed.
    * @return false if a problem is known to occur, but since
    * this returns immediately, problems aren?t usually found
    * in time. Returns true otherwise.
    */

  public static boolean exec(String command) {
    return(exec(command, false, false));
  }

  /** Starts a process to execute the command. Waits for the
    * process to finish before returning.
    *
    * @param command The full pathname of the command to
    * be executed. No shell built-ins or shell metachars are
    * allowed.
    * @return false if a problem is known to occur, either due
    * to an exception or from the subprocess returning a
    * nonzero value. Returns true otherwise.
    */

  public static boolean execWait(String command) {
    return(exec(command, false, true));
  }

  /** Starts a process to execute the command. Prints any output
    * the command produces.
    *
    * @param command The full pathname of the command to
    * be executed. No shell built-ins or shell meta-chars are
    * allowed.
    * @return false if a problem is known to occur, either due
    * to an exception or from the subprocess returning a
    * nonzero value. Returns true otherwise.
    */

  public static boolean execPrint(String command) {
    return(exec(command, true, false));
  }

  /** This creates a Process object via Runtime.getRuntime.exec()
    * Depending on the flags, it may call waitFor on the process
    * to avoid continuing until the process terminates, and open
    * an input stream from the process to read the results.
    */

  private static boolean exec(String command,
                              boolean printResults,
                              boolean wait) {
    if (verbose) {
      printSeparator();
      System.out.println("Executing '" + command + "'.");
    }
    try {
      // Start running command, returning immediately.
      Process p  = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command);

      // Print the output. Since we read until there is no more
      // input, this causes us to wait until the process is
      // completed.
      if(printResults) {
        BufferedReader buffer = new BufferedReader(
          new InputStreamReader(p.getInputStream()));
        String s = null;
        try {
          while ((s = buffer.readLine()) != null) {
            System.out.println("Output: " + s);
          }
          buffer.close();
          if (p.exitValue() != 0) {
            if (verbose) {
              printError(command + " -- p.exitValue() != 0");
            }
            return(false);
          }
        } catch (Exception e) {
          // Ignore read errors; they mean the process is done.
        }

      // If not printing the results, then we should call waitFor
      // to stop until the process is completed.
      } else if (wait) {
        try {
          System.out.println(" ");
          int returnVal = p.waitFor();
          if (returnVal != 0) {
            if (verbose) {
              printError(command);
            }
            return(false);
          }
        } catch (Exception e) {
          if (verbose) {
            printError(command, e);
          }
          return(false);
        }
      }
    } catch (Exception e) {
      if (verbose) {
        printError(command, e);
      }
      return(false);
    }
    return(true);
  }

  private static void printError(String command,
                                 Exception e) {
    System.out.println("Error doing exec(" + command + "): " +
                        e.getMessage());
    System.out.println("Did you specify the full " +
                       "pathname?");
  }

  private static void printError(String command) {
    System.out.println("Error executing ?" + command + "?.");
  }

  private static void printSeparator() {
    System.out.println
      ("==============================================");
  }
}