installed java 7 but terminal responds with version 6

Question

So I installed Java 7 and verified that it was installed Java now shows up under System preferences. However when I run java -version it still returns

 java version "1.6.0_65

How do i fix this so that my computer points to the correct version? Also, is this a problem in the future if i choose to not fix this?

Thanks

Answer 1

You need to set your java 7 directory bin path to system PATH variable. As you are using Mac OS, use this article to set path correctly:

JAVA HOME in Mac OS

Answer 2

1. Use the following command to list the installed versions of Java:

   /usr/libexec/java_home -V

2. From the output of the above command, copy the path for the version of Java you want to use.

3. Open up your ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc file and add/edit the line:

   export JAVA_HOME=/Path/copied/from/step/2

4. In your terminal, reload the the file you edited in the previous step using the corresponding command below:

   source ~/.bash_profile

   source ~/.bashrc

5. Now, you should see the the correct version of Java on the command line:

   java -version