The java tool launches a Java application. It does this by
starting a Java runtime environment, loading a
specified class, and invoking that class's main method.
The method must be declared public and static, it must not return
any value, and it must accept a String array as a para
meter.
The method declaration must look like the following:
public static void main(String args[])
By default, the first non-option argument is the name
of the class to be invoked. A fully-qualified class name should be
used.
If the -jar option is specified, the first non-option argume
nt
is the name of a JAR archive containing class and resource f
iles
for the application, with the startup class indicated by the
Main-Class manifest header.
The Java runtime searches for the startup class, and other classes
used, in three sets of locations: the bootstrap class path, the
installed extensions, and the user class path.
Non-option arguments after the class name or JAR file name are passed
to the main function.
The javaw command is identical to java, except that with
javaw there is no associated console window. Use javaw when
you don't want a command prompt window to appear. The javaw
launcher will, however, display a dialog box with error information
if a launch fails for some reason.
The launcher has a set of standard options that
are supported on the current runtime environment and will be supported in
future releases.
In addition, the default Java HotSpot VMs provide a set of
non-standard options that
are subject to change in future releases.
Specify a list of directories, JAR archives, and ZIP
archives to search for class files. Class path entries are
separated by semicolons (;). Specifying
-classpath or -cp overrides any setting of the
CLASSPATH environment variable.
If -classpath and -cp are not used and
CLASSPATH is not set, the user class path consists of
the current directory (.).
Enable assertions. Assertions are disabled by default.
With no arguments, enableassertions or -ea enables
assertions. With one
argument ending in "...", the switch enables assertions in the
specified package and any subpackages. If the argument is simply
"...", the switch enables assertions in the unnamed package in the current
working directory. With one argument not ending in "...", the switch
enables assertions in the specified class.
If a single command line contains multiple instances of these
switches, they are processed in order before loading any classes.
So, for example, to run a program with assertions enabled only in
package com.wombat.fruitbat (and any subpackages), the following
command could be used:
java -ea:com.wombat.fruitbat... <Main Class>
The -enableassertions and -ea switches apply to all s loaders and to system classes
(which do not have a class loader). There is one exception to this rule:
in their no-argument form, the switches do not apply to system.
This makes it easy to turn on asserts in all classes except for system
classes. A separate switch is provided to enable asserts in all system
classes; see -enablesystemassertions below.
With no arguments, disableassertions or -da disables
assertions. With one
argument ending in "...", the switch disables assertions in the
specified package and any subpackages. If the argument is simply
"...", the switch disables assertions in the unnamed package in the rent
working directory. With one argument not ending in "...", the switch
disables assertions in the specified class.
To run a program with assertions enabled in package
com.wombat.fruitbat but disabled in class
com.wombat.fruitbat.Brickbat, the following command could
be used:
The -disableassertions and -da switches apply to all ss loaders and to system classes
(which do not have a class loader). There is one exception to this rule:
in their no-argument form, the switches do not apply to system.
This makes it easy to turn on asserts in all classes except for system
classes. A separate switch is provided to enable asserts in all system
classes; see -disablesystemassertions below.
-enablesystemassertions
-esa
Enable asserts in all system classes (sets the default assertion
status for system classes to true).
-disablesystemassertions
-dsa
Disables asserts in all system classes.
-jar
Execute a program encapsulated in a JAR file. The first
argument is the name of a JAR file instead of a startup
class name. In order for this option to work, the manifest of
the JAR file must contain a line of the form
Main-Class: classname.
Here, classname identifies the class having the
public static void main(String[] args)
method that serves as your application's starting point. See
the Jar tool reference page and
the Jar trail of the
Java
Tutorial for information about working with Jar files and
Jar-file manifests.
When you use this option, the
JAR file is the source of all user classes, and other user class
path settings are ignored.
-javaagent:jarpath[=options]
Load a Java programming language agent, see java.lang.instrument.
-verbose
-verbose:class
Display information about each class loaded.
-verbose:gc
Report on each garbage collection event.
-verbose:jni
Report information about use of native methods and other
Java Native Interface activity.
-version
Display version information and exit.
-showversion
Display version information and continue.
-?
-help
Display usage information and exit.
-X
Display information about non-standard options and exit.
Operate in interpreted-only mode. Compilation to native code
is disabled, and all bytecodes are executed by the interpreter.
The performance benefits offered by the Java HotSpot Client VM's
adaptive compiler will not be present in this mode.
-Xbatch
Disable background compilation. Normally the VM will compile
the method as a background task, running the method in interpreter
mode until the background compilation is finished. The
-Xbatch flag disables
background compilation so that compilation of all methods
proceeds as a foreground task until completed.
-Xdebug
Start with support for JVMDI enabled.
JVMDI has been deprecated and is not used for debugging in J2SE 5.0,
so this option isn't needed for debugging in J2SE 5.0.
-Xbootclasspath:bootclasspath
Specify a semicolon-separated list of directories, JAR
archives, and ZIP archives to search for boot class files.
These are used in place of the boot class files included in the
Java 2 SDK. Note: Applications that use this option for the
purpose of overriding a class in rt.jar should not be deployed
as doing so would contravene the Java 2 Runtime Environment
binary code license.
-Xbootclasspath/a:path
Specify a semicolon-separated path of directires, JAR
archives, and ZIP archives to append to the default bootstrap
class path.
-Xbootclasspath/p:path
Specify a semicolon-separated path of directires, JAR
archives, and ZIP archives to prepend in front of the default
bootstrap class path. Note: Applications that use this option
for the purpose of overriding a class in rt.jar should not be
deployed as doing so would contravene the Java 2 Runtime Environment
binary code license.
-Xcheck:jni
Perform additional checks for Java Native Interface (JNI) functions.
Specifically, the Java Virtual Machine validates the parameters passed
to the JNI function as well as the runtime environment data before
processing the JNI request. Any invalid data encountered indicates
a problem in the native code, and the Java Virtual Machine will
terminate with a fatal error in such cases. Expect a
performance degradation when this option is used.
-Xfuture
Perform strict class-file format checks. For purposes of backwards
compatibility, the default format checks performed by the
Java 2 SDK's virtual machine are no stricter than
the checks performed by 1.1.x versions of the JDK software. The
-Xfuture flag turns on stricter class-file format checks
that enforce closer conformance to the class-file format
specification. Developers are encouraged to use this flag
when developing new code because the stricter checks will
become the default in future releases of the Java application
launcher.
-Xnoclassgc
Disable class garbage collection.
-Xincgc
Enable the incremental garbage collector. The incremental garbage
collector, which is off by default, will reduce the occasional long
garbage-collection pauses during program execution. The incremental
garbage collector will at times execute concurrently with the
program and during such times will reduce the processor capacity
available to the program.
-Xloggc:file
Report on each garbage collection event, as with -verbose:gc,
but log this data to file. In addition to the information
-verbose:gc gives, each reported event will be preceeded by
the time (in seconds) since the first garbage-collection event.
Always use a local file system for storage of this file to avoid
stalling the JVM due to network latency. The file may be
truncated in the case of a full file system and logging will
continue on the truncated file. This option overrides
-verbose:gc if both are given on the command line.