How to run Unix shell script from Java code?

You should really look at Process Builder. It is really built for this kind of thing.

ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("myshellScript.sh", "myArg1", "myArg2");
 Map<String, String> env = pb.environment();
 env.put("VAR1", "myValue");
 env.remove("OTHERVAR");
 env.put("VAR2", env.get("VAR1") + "suffix");
 pb.directory(new File("myDir"));
 Process p = pb.start();

I think you have answered your own question with

Runtime.getRuntime().exec(myShellScript);

As to whether it is good practice... what are you trying to do with a shell script that you cannot do with Java?

I would say that it is not in the spirit of Java to run a shell script from Java. Java is meant to be cross platform, and running a shell script would limit its use to just UNIX.

With that said, it's definitely possible to run a shell script from within Java. You'd use exactly the same syntax you listed (I haven't tried it myself, but try executing the shell script directly, and if that doesn't work, execute the shell itself, passing the script in as a command line parameter).

Yes, it is possible and you have answered it! About good practises, I think it is better to launch commands from files and not directly from your code. So you have to make Java execute the list of commands (or one command) in an existing .bat, .sh , .ksh ... files. Here is an example of executing a list of commands in a file MyFile.sh:

    String[] cmd = { "sh", "MyFile.sh", "\pathOfTheFile"};
    Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd);

This is a late answer. However, I thought of putting the struggle I had to bear to get a shell script to be executed from a Spring-Boot application for future developers.

1. I was working in Spring-Boot and I was not able to find the file to be executed from my Java application and it was throwing FileNotFoundFoundException. I had to keep the file in the resources directory and had to set the file to be scanned in pom.xml while the application was being started like the following.

   <resources>
       <resource>
           <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
           <filtering>true</filtering>
           <includes>
               <include>**/*.xml</include>
               <include>**/*.properties</include>
               <include>**/*.sh</include>
           </includes>
       </resource>
   </resources>
   

2. After that I was having trouble executing the file and it was returning error code = 13, Permission Denied. Then I had to make the file executable by running this command - chmod u+x myShellScript.sh

Finally, I could execute the file using the following code snippet.

public void runScript() {
    ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("src/main/resources/myFile.sh");
    try {
        Process p;
        p = pb.start();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Hope that solves someone's problem.

Here is an example how to run an Unix bash or Windows bat/cmd script from Java. Arguments can be passed on the script and output received from the script. The method accepts arbitrary number of arguments.

public static void runScript(String path, String... args) {
    try {
        String[] cmd = new String[args.length + 1];
        cmd[0] = path;
        int count = 0;
        for (String s : args) {
            cmd[++count] = args[count - 1];
        }
        Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd);
        BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));
        try {
            process.waitFor();
        } catch (Exception ex) {
            System.out.println(ex.getMessage());
        }
        while (bufferedReader.ready()) {
            System.out.println("Received from script: " + bufferedReader.readLine());
        }
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        System.out.println(ex.getMessage());
        System.exit(1);
    }
}

When running on Unix/Linux, the path must be Unix-like (with '/' as separator), when running on Windows - use '\'. Hier is an example of a bash script (test.sh) that receives arbitrary number of arguments and doubles every argument:

#!/bin/bash
counter=0
while [ $# -gt 0 ]
do
  echo argument $((counter +=1)): $1
  echo doubling argument $((counter)): $(($1+$1))
  shift
done

When calling

runScript("path_to_script/test.sh", "1", "2")

on Unix/Linux, the output is:

Received from script: argument 1: 1
Received from script: doubling argument 1: 2
Received from script: argument 2: 2
Received from script: doubling argument 2: 4

Hier is a simple cmd Windows script test.cmd that counts number of input arguments:

@echo off
set a=0
for %%x in (%*) do Set /A a+=1 
echo %a% arguments received

When calling the script on Windows

  runScript("path_to_script\\test.cmd", "1", "2", "3")

The output is

Received from script: 3 arguments received

It is possible, just exec it as any other program. Just make sure your script has the proper #! (she-bang) line as the first line of the script, and make sure there are execute permissions on the file.

For example, if it is a bash script put #!/bin/bash at the top of the script, also chmod +x .

Also as for if it's good practice, no it's not, especially for Java, but if it saves you a lot of time porting a large script over, and you're not getting paid extra to do it ;) save your time, exec the script, and put the porting to Java on your long-term todo list.

for linux use

public static void runShell(String directory, String command, String[] args, Map<String, String> environment)
{
    try
    {
        if(directory.trim().equals(""))
            directory = "/";

        String[] cmd = new String[args.length + 1];
        cmd[0] = command;

        int count = 1;

        for(String s : args)
        {
            cmd[count] = s;
            count++;
        }

        ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder(cmd);

        Map<String, String> env = pb.environment();

        for(String s : environment.keySet())
            env.put(s, environment.get(s));

        pb.directory(new File(directory));

        Process process = pb.start();

        BufferedReader inputReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));
        BufferedWriter outputReader = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(process.getOutputStream()));
        BufferedReader errReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getErrorStream()));

        int exitValue = process.waitFor();

        if(exitValue != 0) // has errors
        {
            while(errReader.ready())
            {
                LogClass.log("ErrShell: " + errReader.readLine(), LogClass.LogMode.LogAll);
            }
        }
        else
        {
            while(inputReader.ready())
            {
                LogClass.log("Shell Result : " + inputReader.readLine(), LogClass.LogMode.LogAll);
            }
        }
    }
    catch(Exception e)
    {
        LogClass.log("Err: RunShell, " + e.toString(), LogClass.LogMode.LogAll);
    }
}

public static void runShell(String path, String command, String[] args)
{
    try
    {
        String[] cmd = new String[args.length + 1];

        if(!path.trim().isEmpty())
            cmd[0] = path + "/" + command;
        else
            cmd[0] = command;

        int count = 1;

        for(String s : args)
        {
            cmd[count] = s;
            count++;
        }

        Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd);

        BufferedReader inputReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));
        BufferedWriter outputReader = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(process.getOutputStream()));
        BufferedReader errReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getErrorStream()));

        int exitValue = process.waitFor();

        if(exitValue != 0) // has errors
        {
            while(errReader.ready())
            {
                LogClass.log("ErrShell: " + errReader.readLine(), LogClass.LogMode.LogAll);
            }
        }
        else
        {
            while(inputReader.ready())
            {
                LogClass.log("Shell Result: " + inputReader.readLine(), LogClass.LogMode.LogAll);
            }
        }
    }
    catch(Exception e)
    {
        LogClass.log("Err: RunShell, " + e.toString(), LogClass.LogMode.LogAll);
    }
}

and for usage;

ShellAssistance.runShell("", "pg_dump", new String[]{"-U", "aliAdmin", "-f", "/home/Backup.sql", "StoresAssistanceDB"});

OR

ShellAssistance.runShell("", "pg_dump", new String[]{"-U", "aliAdmin", "-f", "/home/Backup.sql", "StoresAssistanceDB"}, new Hashmap<>());