Still a lot of people don’t understand the purpose of these system variables. They don’t know when to set it, what it really does and therefore cannot determine that this IS or IS NOT a path or classpath problem.
The PATH variable is a Windows system variable that Windows uses to find executable files. When you type a command in the cmd window, e.g. “javac”, Windows will search in your PATH to find the program to execute. The search sequence is as follows:
Current Dir > PATH Variable > Command Interpreter
In the example, the interpreter will first look in the Current Dir for a javac.com, javac.exe or javac.bat respectively. If found, it will be executed. If not it continues its search through the PATH variable in definition sequence and extension sequence. This means for PATH=C:\Temp;C:\Windows, C:\Temp\javac.com will be searched 1st, followed by C:\Temp\javac.exe, C:\Temp\javac.bat, C:\Windows\javac.com, and so on.
Once the PATH is exhausted, the interpreter will be checked if it is a interpreter command (such as “copy”). If so it will be invoked. Finally the interpreter will return a “Bad command or file name” if the command is not found.
All these means that if you’re getting a “Bad command or file name”, it is likely a PATH problem. It also means if you’re somehow running the wrong program, it may be a program of the same name in a path earlier than yours (useful for java version conflicts).
The CLASSPATH variable is a Java runtime system variable that Java uses to find class files. When Java tries to load a class, it will lookup its ClassLoader. If the class is not yet loaded, Java tries to find the class in the CLASSPATH variable. Sometimes the CLASSPATH may be appended from the runtime command line directly.
This means that if you’re getting a ClassNotFoundException during runtime, or “Unable to resolve symbol” during compile, you may have a CLASSPATH problem. (NOTE: Typos and other errors may also raise same compile error). If the classes are in the current directory and still cannot be found try adding “.” (current dir) to the classpath or check if the sources are in java packages.
To check the current PATH on cmd, type “PATH” or “set PATH”. To check the CLASSPATH, type “set CLASSPATH”.
To fix the PATH or CLASSPATH, you can either set it on the command line directly or set it through System Environment Variables. To set it from cmd, type “set CLASSPATH=someClassPath”. To append to the existing PATH or CLASSPATH, use %xxx%. E.g. “set CLASSPATH=%CLASSPATH%;.” to append the current directory into the classpath without affecting the existing classpath. Setting the variables on cmd only persists for that session. If you start another cmd or close this cmd the variables will be reset.
To persist the variables permanantly, you can set it through System Environment Variables. For XP Pro, go to the “System Properties” first. You can get there by
- Start > Control Panel > System
- Start, right-click “My Computer”, select “Properties”
- Press [WindowsKey]+[Break] simultaneously
with option 3 being the fastest. From there, click the “Advanced” tab and click “Environment Variables” at the bottom. Set either the User variables or System variables. The User variables only affect your Windows Login, and System variables will affect everyone. User variables will overwrite any System variable settings.