Can I invoke a java method other than main(String[]) from the command line?

Question

Can I invoke a java method other than main(String[]) from the command line?

Answer 1

If you install a REPL for a JVM language (Groovy probably takes the least work to get started with), then you can invoke Java methods at the REPL prompt (Groovy's is called groovysh). groovysh has some odd features (my least favorite bit is that declaring variables with def doesn't do what you'd think it should) but it's still really useful. It's an interesting feature that Groovy doesn't respect privacy, so you can call private methods and check the contents of private variables.

Groovy installs include groovysh. Download the zip file, extract it somewhere, add the location of the bin directory to the path and you're good to go. You can drop jars into the lib folder, for the code you're running and libraries used by that code, and Groovy will find them there.

Answer 2

No, I don't think so. main() is the entry point. That's defined by the language. You can wrap a script around the main() call ("java MyApp arg1...argn"), of course, to obscure the name (and even hide that you're using Java) and to provide your own parameter syntax and parsing -- that is a capability provided by the OS, of course, through some sort of command-line scripting language.

If you use Java to create other types of executables, like Applets or GWT applications, then the entry point is different, but I think you're thinking specifically about executables run from the command line.

Answer 3

No, that is not possible.

Please see the Java language specification

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/second_edition/html/execution.doc.html

Ofcourse applets and servlets and other technologies may have different starting points.

Answer 4

From The Java Virtual Machine Specification

The Java virtual machine starts up by creating an initial class, which is specified in an implementation-dependent manner, using the bootstrap class loader (§5.3.1). The Java virtual machine then links the initial class, initializes it, and invokes its public class method void main(String[]). The invocation of this method drives all further execution. Execution of the Java virtual machine instructions constituting the main method may cause linking (and consequently creation) of additional classes and interfaces, as well as invocation of additional methods.

So main appears to be special.

Answer 5

No you cant

As per Java command line FAQ (which is dead now.) You can check Java Threads FAQ

The entry point method main() is used to the provide a standard convention for starting Java programs. The choice of the method name is somewhat arbitrary, but is partly designed to avoid clashes with the Thread start() and Runnable run() methods, for example.

Check the FAQ. You will get some good knowledge about JAVA command line

Answer 6

Here is a bash function that lets you do just that:

function javae {
  TDIR=`mktemp -d`
  echo "public class Exec { public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { " $1 "; } }" > $TDIR/Exec.java && javac $TDIR/Exec.java && java -cp $CLASSPATH:$TDIR Exec;
  rm -r $TDIR;
}

Put that in ~/.bashrc and you can do this:

javae 'System.out.println(5)'

Or this:

javae 'class z { public void run() { System.out.println("hi"); } }; (new z()).run()'

It's a hack of course, but it works.