Java Runtime.getRuntime().exec

Question

When I run this in my Windows command prompt it opens the default browser and loads the respective page:

START: http://google.com

I am trying to do the same thing with the Java code below but get an error message.

Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[] {"START", "http://google.com"});

This is the error I am getting:

Exception in thread "main" java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "START": CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified
 at java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(Unknown Source)
 at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Unknown Source)
 at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Unknown Source)
 at Test2.main(Test2.java:78)

I am running Windows Vista.

• aishwarya: try using iexplore/firefox instead of start. I guess "start" would just be a shortcut rather than an executable.

Answer 1

I believe that START is a command prompt builtin rather than an executable file, so you can't call it from Java. If you want to view a webpage with the system's default browser, use java.awt.Desktop.browse().