[java] How to run a jar file in a linux commandline

How to set the classpath to the current directory and also run the jar file named load.jar present in the current directory by providing the argument as load=2 from a linux command line.

I did try to run the jar as follows but its executing classes from some other directory.

java -cp ./load.jar:$CLASSPATH load.Start load=2

This question is related to java

The answer is


Running a from class inside your JAR file load.jar is possible via

java -jar load.jar

When doing so, you have to define the application entry point. Usually this is done by providing a manifest file that contains the Main-Class tag. For documentation and examples have a look at this page. The argument load=2 can be supplied like in a normal Java applications:

java -jar load.jar load=2

Having also the current directory contained in the classpath, required to also make use of the Class-Path tag. See here for more information.


For example to execute from terminal (Ubuntu Linux) or even (Windows console) a java file called filex.jar use this command:

java -jar filex.jar

The file will execute in terminal.


Under linux there's a package called binfmt-support that allows you to run directly your jar without typing java -jar:

sudo apt-get install binfmt-support
chmod u+x my-jar.jar
./my-jar.jar # there you go!

For OpenSuse Linux, One can simply install the java-binfmt package in the zypper repository as shown below:

sudo zypper in java-binfmt-misc
chmod 755 file.jar
./file.jar

sudo -sH
java -jar filename.jar

Keep in mind to never run executable file in as root.


copy your file in linux Java directory

cp yourfile.jar /java/bin

open the directory

cd /java/bin

and execute your file

./java -jar yourfile.jar

or all in one try this command:

/java/bin/java -jar jarfilefolder/jarfile.jar


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