Run Jar Files in PATH

Wassadamo :

I store jar files in C:\Users\myuser\javatools\avro-tools

And added them to my PATH:

echo %PATH%
...;
C:\Users\myuser\javatools\avro-tools;

I can run them by specifying the full path:

java -jar C:\Users\myuser\javatools\avro-tools\avro-tools-1.8.1.jar

But cannot run them without the full path:

java -jar avro-tools-1.8.1.jar
Error: Unable to access jarfile avro-tools-1.8.1.jar

I need to run jar files without changing to the directory, nor specifying these full paths.

Andreas :

UPDATE: Added %*

I'd recommend creating a batch file and run that instead.

avro-tools-1.8.1.bat

@echo off
java -jar C:\Users\myuser\javatools\avro-tools\avro-tools-1.8.1.jar %*

Place .bat file somewhere in PATH, and run by simply typing:

avro-tools-1.8.1.bat -abc def

The %* in the .bat file gets replaced with any argument passed to the .bat file, so the -abc def arguments are passed to the avro-tools program in the args array to the main method.

---

If you have multiple versions of Java installed, you can then choose which one to use when running that .jar file, by also qualifying the java command.

avro-tools-1.8.1.bat

@echo off
"C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_181\java.exe" -jar C:\Users\myuser\javatools\avro-tools\avro-tools-1.8.1.jar %*

Now that code will run with Java 8, even if Java 8 is not the default Java on your machine.