ITC C106 – Computer
Programming II
Command Line Arguments
Prepared by: A. C. Valderama – CSE- IT
Dept.
Objectives
• At the end of the lesson, the student should
be able to:
• Know and explain what a command-line
argument is
• Get input from the user using command-line
arguments
• Learn how to pass arguments in the command
line.
Command-line Arguments
• A Java application can accept any number of
arguments from the command-line.
• Command-line arguments allow the user to
affect the operation of an application for one
invocation.
• The user enters command-line arguments
when invoking the application and specifies
them after the name of the class to run.
Command-line Arguments
• For example, suppose you have a Java application,
called Sort, that sorts five numbers, you run it like this:
• Note: The arguments are separated by spaces.
Command-line Arguments
• In Java, when you invoke an application,
the runtime system passes the command-
line arguments to the application's main
method via an array of Strings.
public static void main( String[] args )
Each String in the array contains one of the
command-line arguments.
Command-line Arguments
• Given the previous example where we run:
java Sort 11 33 22 44 35
the arguments are stored in the args array of the
main method declaration. 0
args 11
33 1
22 2
44
3
35
4
Command-line Arguments
• To print the array of arguments, we write:
public class CommandLineSample
{
public static void main( String[] args ){
for(int i=0; i<args.length; i++){
System.out.println( args[i] );
}
}
}
Command-line Arguments
• If your program needs to support a numeric
command-line argument, it must convert a String
argument that represents a number, such as "34",
to a number.
• Here's a code snippet that converts a command-line
argument to an integer,
int firstArg = 0;
if (args.length > 0){
firstArg = Integer.parseInt(args[0]);
}
• the parseInt() method in the Integer class throws a NumberFormatException (ERROR) if
the format of args[0] isn't valid (not a number).
Command-line Arguments:
Coding Guidelines
• Before using command-line arguments, always check
the number of arguments before accessing the array
elements so that there will be no exception
generated.
• For example, if your program needs the user to input
5 arguments,
if( args.length!= 5 ){
System.out.println(“Invalid number of arguments”);
System.out.println(“Please enter 5 arguments”);
}
else{
//some statements here
}
Command-line Arguments in the
prompt
• Open the command prompt.
• Windows username usually appears in the
prompt.
Command-line Arguments in the
prompt
• Change to the directory where your Java source
codes are located. Use the command CD for
Change Directory. Type the drive letter in case you
need to change drives.
Command-line Arguments in the
prompt
• Change PATH of the JDK where javac (command
to compile) and java (command to run) are
located.
Command-line Arguments in the
prompt
• Compile and run your source codes.
Summary
• Command-line arguments
• How to access the arguments
• How to convert String arguments to integer using Integer.parseInt
method
• How to pass command-line arguments.
Resources:
• Adapted and edited from Java Education
and Development Initiative
Prepared by: A. C. Valderama – CSE- IT
Dept.
Thank you!
Prepared by: A. C. Valderama – CSE- IT
Dept.
