Set directory path

Question

I have to call native applications from within my java application (using the Runtime.getRuntime().exec() method). That works fine but I need to change the current directory path to a specific path.
How it is done to change the current directory path with java ?
Steffen Kux.

Answer 1

You can use one class of mine that I already posted to this forums some time ago...
/** executes multiple commands in one shell
* @author: Giorgio Maone
import java.io.*;
public class MultiExec {
static final boolean IS_WIN=System.getProperty("os.name").toLowerCase().indexOf("win")==0;
protected String shell=IS_WIN?"":"sh";
public void setShell(String s) {
   shell=s;
public String getShell() {
   return shell;
public Process exec(String cmds[]) throws IOException {
  File f=File.createTempFile("muexec",".bat");
  PrintWriter out=new PrintWriter(new FileWriter(f));
  if(IS_WIN) out.println("@echo off");
  for(int j=0,len=cmds.length; j<len; j++)
    out.println(cmds[j]);
  out.close();
  f.deleteOnExit();
  return Runtime.getRuntime().exec(shell+" "+f.getCanonicalPath());
public int execAndWait(String cmds[]) throws IOException {
   Process p=exec(cmds);
  new Pipe(p.getInputStream(),System.out).connect();
  new Pipe(p.getErrorStream(),System.out).connect();
  new Pipe(System.in,p.getOutputStream()).connect();
  int exitCode=-1;
  try {
   exitCode=p.waitFor();
   } catch(InterruptedException ex) {}
  return exitCode;
static class Pipe {
   private InputStream in;
  private OutputStream out;
  public Pipe(InputStream in, OutputStream out) {
    this.in=in; this.out=out;
  public void connect() {
    new Thread() {
     public void run() {
      try {
       for(int b;(b=in.read())!=-1;) {
         out.write(b);
       out.flush();
     } catch(IOException ex) {}
   }.start();
// Test code
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
String path=args[0];
String drive=path.indexOf(":")==1?path.substring(0,1):"";
System.out.println("\nExit code:"+
  new MultiExec().execAndWait(
   new String[]{
    drive,
    "cd "+path,
    args[1];
}