Viewing contents of a .jar file

Question

What would be the easiest way to view classes, methods, properties, etc. inside a jar file? I\'m looking for something equivalent to the very useful Lutz Roeder .NET Ref

Answer 1

You could try JarSpy. There is an IDEA plugin version of it that I use.

Answer 2

I usually open them with 7-Zip... It allows at least to see packages and classes and resources.
Should I need to see methods or fields, I would use Jad but of course, it is better to rely on (good) JavaDoc...

Now, somewhere on SO was mentioned some Eclipse plug-ins, to find in which jar file a class is located, perhaps they can do more (ie. what you requested).

[EDIT] Reference to SO thread. Not what is asked, but somehow related, thus useful: Java: How do I know which jar file to use given a class name?

Answer 3

You can view JAR files like ZIP files from Windows Explorer by doing the following:

• Run Command Prompt as Administrator

• From the command line, enter:

  assoc .jar=CompressedFolder

• While you are at it, you might as well do the same for WAR and EAR files:

  assoc .war=CompressedFolder

  assoc .ear=CompressedFolder

Answer 4

If you like to see whats inside, simply rename as first option below..

1. F2 & Rename to jarfile.zip //Use any unzipper...

2. jar tvf jarfile.jar

3. jar tf jarfile.jar

Answer 5

If you are in windows and using powershell and you are looking for a file in a jar you can do:

jar -tf .\[JAR_NAME] | where {$_ -match "[FILENAME]"}

Answer 6

I've set the default action in windows to "Open with WinZip". This makes it easy to manage JARs as archives. You can even add/remove files manually.