How to pass runtime process a commmand with pipes?

Question

I have this java program to run commands, but it ignore any command with pipes (e.g., ps -ef | grep -v grep | grep defunct). Any ideas on how to do this?
It tries to pass every after -ef into ps as part of a ps command instead of directing output down the pipe chain...
David
import java.io.*;
public class RunExec {
public static void main(String [] args) {
try {
System.out.println("cmd: " + args[0]);
Runtime r = Runtime.getRuntime();
Process p = r.exec(args[0]);
BufferedReader err = new BufferedReader (
new InputStreamReader(p.getErrorStream())
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(
new InputStreamReader(p.getInputStream())
for(;;) {
String line = in.readLine();
if ( line == null ) {
break;
} else {
System.out.println(line);
String errors;
while ((errors = err.readLine ())!= null) {
System.out.println (errors);
err.close();
in.close();
} catch(IOException e) {
System.out.println(e);
}

Answer 1

I'm sure you realize this has nothing to do with java, and everything to do with your shell. You must escape all shell-sensitive characters for them to ever reach java:
$ java RunExec ps -ef\|grep -v grep \|grep defunct