asked on 5/16/2011

Java 6 exec, escaping special characters within ProcessBuilder.command(String[])

Hello,

I use the commandline from my main java app to execute another 'mailer.jar' app.
One of the argument is the mail content that can contains any character including \n, \r, ", '...

I thought using

ProcessBuilder.command(String[])

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instead of

ProcessBuilder.command(String)

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would prevent the ProcessBuilder.exec from having troubles with splitting the command line, but it does not work.

If my command is a String[] array containing:

String[] cmd=new String[]{"java",
"-jar",
"mailer.jar"
"smtp.test.org",
"test@test.org",
"test@test.org",
"my subject ...",
"my content with carriage returns and other strange characters"};

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I will obtain as the String[] args of the main method of my mailer.jar

String[] args=new String[]{
"smtp.test.org",
"test@test.org",
"test@test.org",
"my subject ...",
"my content with",
"carriage returns and",
"other strange characters",
...};

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What should I do?
I would prefer not to use Apache Commons Exec because we have developped our own low level lib to handle multi threading and asynchronous exec...

Thanks for your help!

Regards,

Renaud

Java Shell Scripting

Last Comment

numtech

5/22/2011

CEHJ

5/16/2011

For the final array element, does a simple string work?

numtech

5/16/2011

ASKER

Hello,

Yes it works perfectly with simple String content in the cmd.
But if one of the String in the cmd contains any " or ' character, it would be splitted in the final array.

I did this, and it solved the problem under windows, but I think it is really not a good idea to go into this because I will have to test it on every plaform/version (and I am targetting Win, MacOS and Linux).

private String[] escapeCMD(String[] commandLine) {
        String[] escapedCmd = Arrays.copyOf(commandLine, commandLine.length);
        for (int i = 0; i < escapedCmd.length; i++) {
            escapedCmd[i] = escapedCmd[i].replace("\"", "\\\"").replace("'", "\\'");
        }
        return escapedCmd;
    }

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numtech

5/16/2011

ASKER

What a weird work around when I am not supposed to know the underlying OS specifics!

CEHJ

5/16/2011

Would it not be easier just to do something like the following?

Mailer.main(args);

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numtech

5/16/2011

ASKER

Not an option, mailer.jar cannot be loaded inside the main JVM. We have designed this to obtain a low coupling between different components that will evolve in a independant way.
Our designt is:
boot.jar
update.jar
runtime.jar
mailer.jar
The command line prototype and exit code of each main method is defined as the low level interface between application components.
We tryed the classloader approch in the past but we gave up after a while because of an memory leak issue in the unloading process (and we do not want to re-invent OSGI...)

CEHJ

5/16/2011

I'm afraid to say that it looks like what you did in http:#35769647 IS going to have to be tested for each of your target platforms then

Mick Barry

5/16/2011

> "my content with",
> "carriage returns and",
> "other strange characters",

they are separate arguments. Are you expecting them to be treated as one?
And how are you receiving the special characters?

numtech

5/17/2011

ASKER

To illustrate I can show you the real example
This is what is sent as the commandline arguments:

java

-jar

mailer.jar

zimbra.xxxx.fr

ryyyyy@xxxx.fr

ryyyyy@xxxx.fr

NUMAILER[BOOT] RollbackSuccesfull -- satId=40436aff506a72aae8552438d493238b22d67581, path=C:/Program Files/Xxxx/Backup4, companyId=2

The install add to be rolled back.;Rollback reason was: XxxxException : The process terminated in error after 12ms, IExecutionResult[exitCode=1, stdOut="", stdErr=""] >>>> STACK TRACE :[fr.xxxx.boot.RuntimeBooter.bootRuntime(RuntimeBooter.java:125), fr.xxxx.boot.RuntimeBooter.run(RuntimeBooter.java:51), java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)]

 ..\log, 25]

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This is what I receive as the main args:

Arg[0] : zimbra.xxxx.fr

Arg[1] : ryyyyy@xxxx.fr

Arg[2] : ryyyyy@xxxx.fr

Arg[3] : NUMAILER[BOOT] RollbackSuccesfull -- satId=40436aff506a72aae8552438d493238b22d67581, path=C:/Program Files/Xxxx/Backup4, companyId=2

Arg[4] : The install add to be rolled back.;Rollback reason was: XxxxException : The process terminated in error after 17ms, IExecutionResult[exitCode=1, stdOut=",

Arg[5] : stdErr=Invalid or corrupt jarfile runtime-4.1.1.jar ;]

Arg[6] : >>>>

Arg[7] : STACK

Arg[8] : TRACE

Arg[9] : :[fr.xxxx.boot.RuntimeBooter.bootRuntime(RuntimeBooter.java:125),

Arg[10] : fr.xxxx.boot.RuntimeBooter.run(RuntimeBooter.java:51),

Arg[11] : java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown

Arg[12] : Source)] ..\log 25

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Mick Barry

5/17/2011

Have you tested it on the other platforms?
Runtime.exec() used to be terrible at handling the command line, one would have hoped they had fixed it up for ProcessBuilder

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

numtech

5/17/2011

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Mick Barry

5/17/2011

Issue is that you don't know what shell (if any) is involved.

numtech

5/22/2011

ASKER

If found myself the solution by exploring apache commons exec sources.