escape "< >" for cmd file from java

Question

In cmd.exe I try this :

echo " read "book <init>""

The error is :

The system cannot find the file specified.

It works with

echo "read "book ^<init^>""

But if I want to send as argument from java, it will not work:

String s4 = "read \"book ^<init^> \"" ;

How can I escape < > for cmd from java?

Full code :

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException{

    List<String> paramsArray = new ArrayList<String>();

    String s = "read \"book ^<init^> \"" ;
    paramsArray.add("exec.cmd"); //cmd file that only has echo %*
    paramsArray.add(s);

    ProcessBuilder process = new ProcessBuilder(paramsArray).inheritIO(); 

    Process p = process.start();

    int exitStatus = p.waitFor();

    System.out.println("exitStatus is " + exitStatus);

    if (exitStatus == 0)
    {
      System.out.println("Ok!");
    }
    else{

        System.out.println("Not ok!");
    }
}

Why do you wish to use the stream redirection characters on the command line? — Kayaman, Sep 08 '15 at 10:34
@Kamayan , I am sorry , I do not understand the question . My problem is that I pass some arguments to a bat file from another file that look like "revert this: " eu.popin.tm." " . And I need to use this argument . But I got this error with system cannot find the file specified. I do not understand how cmd interprets "< >" — Jimmy, Sep 08 '15 at 10:41
The `>` character will redirect the output of a command to a file. The `<` character will redirect a file as input to a command. Those are very poor choices of characters to handle on the command line. — Kayaman, Sep 08 '15 at 10:44
@Kayaman , I understand now . I want that argument to be treated as a string , from the first " to the last one . How can I do this? — Jimmy, Sep 08 '15 at 10:47

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 09 '15 at 09:50

I think your question is :

"How can I pass an argument to a bat file that contains multiple quotes and special characters in it , such that the bat file will not interpret it ?"

You can replace the double quotes ("") with single quotes in Java :

your_string= your_string.replace("\"", "'");

But better you can put ^ in front of your string , which will be :

 String s = "^" +"read \"book ^<init^> \"" ;

Test in cmd:

echo " read "book <init>""

echo  ^" read "book <init>""

escape "< >" for cmd file from java

1 Answers1

"How can I pass an argument to a bat file that contains multiple quotes and special characters in it , such that the bat file will not interpret it ?"