How to run javap programmatically from Java Program

If you have a .class file or a jar with .class files and you want to see the structure of a .class file javap is a good option to do that.

The javap command disassembles one or more class files. It comes with JDK under tools.jar and used to get the mnemonical representation of the .class file.

This post is about running javap command programmatically. It can be done using ProcessBuilder class which is used to create operating system processes.

ProcessBuilder has a constructor that takes the command as a list

• ProcessBuilder(List<String> command) - Constructs a process builder with the specified operating system program and arguments.

You can use this constructor to construct a process with javap command, -c argument and path of the class file. Also make sure that you have tools.jar (which comes with JDK) in your classpath.

Java Program

Suppose you have a class called First.java

public class First {

 public static void main(String[] args) {
  First first = new First();
  first.showDetails();
 }

 public void showDetails(){
  System.out.println("In Show details" );
 }
}

You want to run javap command for the compiled .class file of First.java.

So, the command you want to run is :
javap –c First.class. Let’s see how you can run this command from a Java program.

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class ClassStructure {

 public static void main(String[] args) {
  try {
   List<String> cmdList = new ArrayList<String>();
   cmdList.add("C:\\Program Files\\Java\\jdk1.8.0_111\\bin\\javap.exe");
   cmdList.add("-c");
   cmdList.add("D:\\First.class");

   // Constructing ProcessBuilder with List as argument
   ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder(cmdList);

   Process p = pb.start();
   p.waitFor();
   InputStream fis = p.getInputStream();

   DisplayClassStructure(fis);
  } catch (InterruptedException e) {
   // TODO Auto-generated catch block
   e.printStackTrace();
  } catch (IOException e1) {
   // TODO Auto-generated catch block
   e1.printStackTrace();
  }
 }

 // Method used for displaying the disassembled class
 private static void DisplayClassStructure(InputStream is){

  InputStream stream;

  try {

   BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is));
   String line;   
   while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {   
        System.out.println(line);   
   }
   // Better put it in finally
   reader.close();
  } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
   // TODO Auto-generated catch block
   e.printStackTrace();
  }
  catch (IOException e) {
   // TODO Auto-generated catch block
   e.printStackTrace();
  }
 }
}

Output

Compiled from "First.java"
public class org.test.First {
  public org.test.First();
    Code:
       0: aload_0
       1: invokespecial #8                  // Method java/lang/Object."<init>":()V
       4: return

  public static void main(java.lang.String[]);
    Code:
       0: new           #1                  // class org/test/First
       3: dup
       4: invokespecial #16                 // Method "<init>":()V
       7: astore_1
       8: aload_1
       9: invokevirtual #17                 // Method showDetails:()V
      12: return

  public void showDetails();
    Code:
       0: getstatic     #23                 // Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
       3: ldc           #29                 // String In Show details
       5: invokevirtual #31                 // Method java/io/PrintStream.println:(Ljava/lang/String;)V
       8: return
}

That's all for this topic How to run javap programmatically from Java Program. If you have any doubt or any suggestions to make please drop a comment. Thanks!

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