How to run multiple cmd commands through Java?

Question

I have a simple GUI which selects an executable and a batch file. Clicking "run" should launch a command line instance, then run the executable given the selected batch. However, hiccups seem to show up at different points. This is the relevant code snippet:

String[] commands = {"cmd.exe", "/c", "C:\\Xilinx\\14.7\\ISE_DS\\settings64.bat && cd /d ",
                "\"" + simFile.getParent() + "\"", " && ping localhost && ",
                "\"" + jTextField1.getText() + "\"",  " -tclbatch \"" + jTextField2.getText() + "\""};

ProcessBuilder simBuilder = new ProcessBuilder(commands);
simBuilder.redirectErrorStream(true);
Process simulation = simBuilder.start();

BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(simulation.getInputStream()));
String line;
while (true) {
    line = reader.readLine();
    if (line == null)
        break;
    System.out.println(line);
}

I chose to create a process through a ProcessBuilder rather than "Runtime.getRuntime().exec" because having the command and arguments as a String array is more readable and manageable. I took a look through the documentation of Runtime, Process, and ProcessBuilder. I also searched for similar questions, the following being the closest: Run cmd commands through Java . However, I'm still having issues getting all commands to run properly, if it all. First point: The program successfully executes the commands until "ping", which I placed to determine where the issue occurs. I get the cmd output in the console through the BufferedReader just fine. However, the next command, which should run the executable indicated by "jTextField1.getText()", gives an error of "The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect" although I made sure the path is within escaped double quotes to account for spaces. Is it something in my syntax? Something to do with where the double ampersands are placed? Does every separate command with its argument need to be its own string in the array? I tried that and different things, but it always seems to result in an error.

Answer 1

You should check that your path names are correct, and try the cmd as one parameter value not as comma separated after cmd.exe /c . This will ensure the arguments are passed to CMD correctly as a single argument for the CMD shell to handle:

import java.nio.file.Files
System.out.println("Files.isDirectory(simFile.getParent())="+Files.isDirectory(simFile.getParent()));
System.out.println("Files.isExecutable(jTextField1.getText())="+Files.isExecutable(Path.of(jTextField1.getText())));

String cmd = "C:\\Xilinx\\14.7\\ISE_DS\\settings64.bat && cd /d "+
            "\"" + simFile.getParent() + "\" && ping localhost && "+
            "\"" + jTextField1.getText() + "\" -tclbatch \"" + jTextField2.getText() + "\"";
String[] commands = {"cmd.exe", "/c", cmd};