How do I programmatically determine operating syst

Question

I would like to determine the operating system of the host that my Java program is running programmatically (for example: I would like to be able to load different properties based on whether I am on a Windows or Unix platform). What is the safest way to do this with 100% reliability?

Answer 1

Below code shows the values that you can get from System API, these all things you can get through this API.

public class App {
    public static void main( String[] args ) {
        //Operating system name
        System.out.println(System.getProperty("os.name"));

        //Operating system version
        System.out.println(System.getProperty("os.version"));

        //Path separator character used in java.class.path
        System.out.println(System.getProperty("path.separator"));

        //User working directory
        System.out.println(System.getProperty("user.dir"));

        //User home directory
        System.out.println(System.getProperty("user.home"));

        //User account name
        System.out.println(System.getProperty("user.name"));

        //Operating system architecture
        System.out.println(System.getProperty("os.arch"));

        //Sequence used by operating system to separate lines in text files
        System.out.println(System.getProperty("line.separator"));

        System.out.println(System.getProperty("java.version")); //JRE version number

        System.out.println(System.getProperty("java.vendor.url")); //JRE vendor URL

        System.out.println(System.getProperty("java.vendor")); //JRE vendor name

        System.out.println(System.getProperty("java.home")); //Installation directory for Java Runtime Environment (JRE)

        System.out.println(System.getProperty("java.class.path"));

        System.out.println(System.getProperty("file.separator"));
    }
}

Answers:-

Windows 7
6.1
;
C:\Users\user\Documents\workspace-eclipse\JavaExample
C:\Users\user
user
amd64


1.7.0_71
http://java.oracle.com/
Oracle Corporation
C:\Program Files\Java\jre7
C:\Users\user\Documents\workspace-Eclipse\JavaExample\target\classes
\

Answer 2

You can just use sun.awt.OSInfo#getOSType() method

Answer 3

The following JavaFX classes have static methods to determine current OS (isWindows(),isLinux()...):

• com.sun.javafx.PlatformUtil
• com.sun.media.jfxmediaimpl.HostUtils
• com.sun.javafx.util.Utils

Example:

if (PlatformUtil.isWindows()){
           ...
}

Answer 4

I find that the OS Utils from Swingx does the job.

Answer 5

You can use:

System.getProperty("os.name")

P.S. You may find this code useful:

class ShowProperties {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.getProperties().list(System.out);
    }
}

All it does is print out all the properties provided by your Java implementations. It'll give you an idea of what you can find out about your Java environment via properties. :-)

Answer 6

I liked Wolfgang's answer, just because I believe things like that should be consts...

so I've rephrased it a bit for myself, and thought to share it :)

/**
 * types of Operating Systems
 *
 * please keep the note below as a pseudo-license
 *
 * helper class to check the operating system this Java VM runs in
 * http://stackoverflow.com/questions/228477/how-do-i-programmatically-determine-operating-system-in-java
 * compare to http://svn.terracotta.org/svn/tc/dso/tags/2.6.4/code/base/common/src/com/tc/util/runtime/Os.java
 * http://www.docjar.com/html/api/org/apache/commons/lang/SystemUtils.java.html
 */
public enum OSType {
    MacOS("mac", "darwin"),
    Windows("win"),
    Linux("nux"),
    Other("generic");

    private static OSType detectedOS;

    private final String[] keys;

    private OSType(String... keys) {
        this.keys = keys;
    }

    private boolean match(String osKey) {
        for (int i = 0; i < keys.length; i++) {
            if (osKey.indexOf(keys[i]) != -1)
                return true;
        }
        return false;
    }

    public static OSType getOS_Type() {
        if (detectedOS == null)
            detectedOS = getOperatingSystemType(System.getProperty("os.name", Other.keys[0]).toLowerCase());
        return detectedOS;
    }

    private static OSType getOperatingSystemType(String osKey) {
        for (OSType osType : values()) {
            if (osType.match(osKey))
                return osType;
        }
        return Other;
    }
}