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About compiling Java through terminal javac

I am a Java newbie, just started learning it in college, and my class is using NetBeans but I'd like to use VSCode.
The professor told us that every Java file should start with:
package nameofthepackage
So that Java knows to which package the class (file) I created belongs to.
So I always create this structure:
I create a folder with the name of the main class, and inside this folder I make a src folder that will store the Java files. Eg:
MyJavaProject/src/MyJavaProject.java
I always name the main .Java file the same as the project folder name.
And when I compile I use javac with the -cp parameter to specify that the src folder is the classpath folder, where it should look for the .Java files I create.
I also always tell javac to compile all the files inside the src folder, using the * wildcard.
The issue is that with this line on top of my .Java files, javac compiles all the files, but I can't execute the bytecode because it complains it can't find the classes I created, even the main one.
As Soon as I remove the package line from the top of the files, I can compile and run the code.
So far it's good, but for any more complex projects this is gonna be really annoying.
Any ideas how can I fix this?

You need to specify the full name (with package) of the class that contains the main function.
Assuming the class MyJavaProject is the one containing your main, that would be:
java nameofthepackage.MyJavaProject
This is assuming you built it with
javac -d . MyJavaProject.java
It would create your target class in a directory structure like:
nameofthepackage\MyJavaProject.class

How to execute a large compiled Java project via command line, without using any software (Windows)?

I have a Java project with 5 packages and 30 classes. I want to test this project on a different computer, but I can't install any sotware on that computer so I can't use things like Maven, Eclipse etc. Is there a way I can execute the program on that computer?
What I tried to do, is to compile the project using Eclipse on my computer, then went to the other computer and tried to execute the project main class via the folder that the main class .class file is at.
I.E., say that the main class name is Hello in package Greetings and Hello.class is at folder named folder. So I opened the command line window at folder and typed the command:
java Greetings.Hello
That didn't work....
Edit: After doing this I got the message: Error: Could not find or load main class Greetings.Hello

If the package name is Greetings and you want to run Hello.class
Hello class must have main method.
Hello.class must in folder name Greetings (package name).
Execute java Greetings.Hello from the one level above of Greetings folder
It seems to me Hello.class is not inside of Greetings folder

If javac is installed on the system you can directly compile on the system. you can compile even large projects including many packages with choosing different options provided by javac.
The javac tool reads class and interface definitions, written in the Java programming language, and compiles them into bytecode class files. It can also process annotations in Java source files and classes.
There are two ways to pass source code file names to javac:
For a small number of source files, simply list the file names on the command line.
For a large number of source files, list the file names in a file, separated by blanks or line breaks. Then use the list file name on the javac command line, preceded by an # character.
Source code file names must have .java suffixes, class file names must have .class suffixes, and both source and class files must have root names that identify the class. For example, a class called MyClass would be written in a source file called MyClass.java and compiled into a bytecode class file called MyClass.class.
Inner class definitions produce additional class files. These class files have names combining the inner and outer class names, such as MyClass$MyInnerClass.class.
You should arrange source files in a directory tree that reflects their package tree. For example, if you keep all your source files in C:\workspace, the source code for com.mysoft.mypack.MyClass should be in C:\workspace\com\mysoft\mypack\MyClass.java.
By default, the compiler puts each class file in the same directory as its source file. You can specify a separate destination directory with -d source

Given that you have Eclipse and you ran the code in Eclipse: the quickest way is to use Eclipse and export it to executable JAR.
If you have Run Configuration (e.g. named Hello) that you use for running the code:
Menu -> Export -> Runnable JAR file
Launch Configuration: Hello
Select export destination: (e.g. C:\tmp\Hello.jar)
Set Extract required libraries into generated JAR
Click finish.
This will create Hello.jar file you can execute typing in:
java -jar Hello.jar

Error when executing a JAR file

I've been learning about JAR files and wanted to try and create and run one myself. I carried out the following steps:
Created a project folder with a 'source' subfolder and a 'classes' subfolder
I wrote 2 source files, one with a main method which creates an instance of the other class and runs a simple method in it.
Compiled these to the 'classes' subfolder. I checked to see if they would run. They did
I created a manifest.txt file and filled in the Main-Class: xxxx and hit the return key. I saved this in the sources subfolder
Created a jar file in the classes subfolder by writing
jar -cvmf manifest.txt zzz.jar *.class
Tried to execute the jar file by typing
java -jar zzz.jar
This gives a ClassNotFound exception. If I try to execute the jar by double clicking on it in windows I get an errorbox saying "Could not find the main class xxxx"
I've double checked the spelling of the class inside the manifest file and it's correct.
Possibly important: I have to compile my programs using java -cp . xyz as there is an issue with my classpath. Does this mean that I need to execute jars in a different way as well? I tried
java -cp . -jar zzz.jar
but ended up with the same exception.
Edit: I ended up starting from scratch and now it runs (with the basic -jar zzz.jar command). Frustrating that I don't know what I was doing wrong but glad that it is working!

Shouldn't number 5. be run in the classes subfolder, where all your class files are? And if your classes are in packages, which they should be, you'll likely want to use * instead of *.class..?
To check what your jar file contains you can run:
jar tf zzz.jar

You will probably have to supply the entire path of the .class file you wish to execute after the classpath. ie java -cp xxx.jar classes.mainProgram.class. Where classes is the name of the folder which contains your class files.

java cannot find symbol error

I have a simple file system, in which all the files being used by the main program are in the same folder. The main program is also in the same system. It was actually a jar file by my friend and then I unzipped it using winrar, the class files are running well, but only when i amended something and tried to compile the program i am getting this error of cannot find symbol for one of the class being used, and its right there in the same folder. How can i resolve this please?
Thanks in advance

You have to place your source files into appropriate subfolders. The name of the folder corresponds to your package name, in this case next.
next/Pretty.java
next/Tree.java
...
Then you can compile using command
javac next/*.java
from the base directory.

Again "wrong name" error when executing java program

With reference to this post
Receiving "wrong name" NoClassDefFoundError when executing a Java program from the command-line
I did not understand how to solve the problem
Actually in my java source code there' s line :
package es_2011;
when I compile the program through JCreator everything works perfectly.
It creates a folder named es_2011 where to put .class files.
Also the executing operation goes smoothly, the program runs ok.
Now I'd like to use the command line only.
So I placed my java file in the directory where javac.exe is but whenever I try to compile I get the same error
The command I use is: javac ProgAudioJ.java
The path (where javac.exe is ) is : C:\Program files\Java\jdk1.6.0_22\bin
Is someone willing to help me understand in terms of exactly tell me what I have to do?
thanks very much...MAX

The setup used for the looks like this (under windows)
C:\classDir -> is the project
C:\classDir\testpackage -> is the only package used (the package "testpackage")
C:\classDir\testpackage\Main.class -> is the class with the main method inside (important: it is the .class and not .java)
The Main.class looks like following:
package testpackage;
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Program started! ;-)");
}
}
go with your command prompt to:
c:\classDir> java testpackage.Main
the result:
Program started! ;-)
According to your problems that it starts in your IDE but not from the console:
- checked if you realy use the path to the .class files?
- with the console go to the directory of you .class files, not the project (e.g. in Eclipse it is the bin directory
- enter the full qualified class name (including packages seperated by . -> e.g. testpackage.Main
More infos can be found under:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/compile-136656.html
Hope it helped

MAX, if the class defines that it's inside the package es_2011, then it should be in a folder with the same name.
So in your case, put the ProgAudioJ.java in the folder es_2011 and then run
javac es_2011\ProgAudioJ.java
latter to run it, you need the command
java es_2011.ProgAudioJ

You should add javac.exe in your path .Edit your path variable and append path to jdk's bin
then put java file in a dir named es_2011 , as the package declaration is es_2011 then compile
c:\es_2011\javac YourJava.java
and now go back to C:
c:\java es_2001.Yourjava

After reading you other Post: "Receiving "wrong name" NoClassDefFoundError when executing a Java program from the command-line" I guess you go to the directory es_2011 where your ProgAudioJ.class file is located and run
java ProgAudioJ
from that folder.
instaend you have to go to the folder above (cd ..) and run
java es_2011.ProgAudioJ

Each package in Java corresponds to a folder on the filesystem. So a package declaration such as com.stackoverflow would mean that the source classes need to be in a folder ./com/stackoverflow. Typically the whole project would have a separate src folder containing com/stackoverflow.
When you compile the Java classes you DO NOT need to put source files in the same directory as javac.exe, you do however need to make sure that javac.exe is in your operating systems PATH variable. This tells the operating system where it should look for executable files when a command is run, on a *nix machine this would usually be /usr/bin or just /bin but on Windows machine the executables normally live within the applications own directories, that is C:\Program Files\something. Assuming that you've installed JDK correctly, the javac.exe should already be in the PATH you can check this by opening the command line and just running javac (just like that). If you get some output then all is well, the system knows where to find javac.exe.
Next you will need to go to your project folder and type javac -d . src/com/stackoverflow/MainSO.java notice that is run from the project folder. This will create a folder called com in your project root and put the compiled classes in com/stackoverflow. The -d flag tells javac where to put the compiled classes, if you leave that out, the compiled classes will be where the sources are.
Then when you want to run the classes you type java com.stackoverflow.MainSO (no .class). Crucially this command will need to be ran in the directory that contains the root of the class hierarchy (that is the com folder containing the compiled classes). You can specify other places for java to look for the classes by providing a classpath to the java command with the -cp flag. By default the classpath will contain the directory the java command was ran in. Should your project have dependencies external .jar files for example you will need to provide every single one of them (with their full filepath) in the classpath (this goes for the compiler as well). The IDEs do this automatically for you.
Hope that helps.