How to switch JDK version on Mac OS X

Apple decided to remove the Java Preferences application in a software update and afterwards in has been difficult to change the JDK version on Mac OS X. I especially noticed this after I installed the JDK 8 early access preview which makes some of the tips that you find on various blogs online useless. After a lot of googling I finally found a simple solution that I’d like to share.

What you do is to edit your ~/.bash_profile and add the following:

function setjdk() {
  if [ $# -ne 0 ]; then
   removeFromPath '/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Home/bin'
   if [ -n "${JAVA_HOME+x}" ]; then
    removeFromPath $JAVA_HOME
   fi
   export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v $@`
   export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH
  fi
 }
 function removeFromPath() {
  export PATH=$(echo $PATH | sed -E -e "s;:$1;;" -e "s;$1:?;;")
 }
setjdk 1.7

function setjdk() {

if [ $# -ne 0 ]; then

removeFromPath '/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Home/bin'

if [ -n "${JAVA_HOME+x}" ]; then

removeFromPath $JAVA_HOME

export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v $@`

export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

}

function removeFromPath() {

export PATH=$(echo $PATH | sed -E -e "s;:$1;;" -e "s;$1:?;;")

}

setjdk 1.7

What the script does is to first remove other JDK versions in the PATH so that they won’t interfere with our new JDK version. Then it makes some clever use of /usr/libexec/java_home which is a command that lists installed JDK versions. The -v argument tells java_home to return the path of the JDK with the supplied version, for example 1.7. We also update the PATH to point to the bin directory of the newly found JAVA_HOME directory. At the end we can simply execute the function using

setjdk 1.7

1	setjdk 1.7

which selects the latest installed JDK version of the 1.7 branch. To select a specific version you can simply execute

setjdk 1.7.0_51

1	setjdk 1.7.0_51

instead. Run /usr/libexec/java_home -h to get more details on how to choose versions.

That’s it! All credits should go to Neeme Praks and his answer on superuser.com.

Tags: Java, tips

This Post Has 63 Comments

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Nelson
15 Mar 2014 Reply

Thanx for the script. Worked well for me.
Joaquín
21 Mar 2014 Reply

Thanks man!

I was running something like export JAVA_HOME=java_home -v 1.6, but the scripts also takes care of the PATH so it’s definitively more convenient.

For those which, like in my case, don’t have ~/.bash_profile, you can also add it like an script under /usr/local/bin
Günter
22 Mar 2014 Reply

Many thanks!

Works really great for Java up to version 1.8
Antonio Rosado
31 Mar 2014 Reply

That was really helpful.
Thanks!
Magnus Rydin
1 Apr 2014 Reply

Thank you very much for yet another very elegant solution to an annoying problem!
George
10 Apr 2014 Reply

Works well but borks on the removeFromPath function when your Path contains a folder that contains spaces, for example “/Applications/Flash Player Debugger.app”.
venu
27 Apr 2014 Reply

Thank you so much!
Richard
28 Apr 2014 Reply

Great. Works perfectly well and solve a really annoying issue :)
Chris
17 May 2014 Reply

Nice one.. thanks!
Margaret
19 May 2014 Reply

Thank you thank you, this saved my butt! I can’t believe Apple removed feature to change it trivially though :(
Jitendra Vyas
28 Jul 2014 Reply

I’m getting this message in terminal after adding you code to .bash_profile

Unable to find any JVMs matching version “1.7”.
1. Johan Haleby
  28 Jul 2014 Reply
  
  And you’re sure that you have Java 7 installed?
Yakov Fain
1 Aug 2014 Reply

This works for applications, but not for applets. I need my Firefox to use Java 1.7 plugin, but after running your script FIrefox still has Java 1.8 plugin and so far I don’t know how to make it switch to Java 1.7.

Thanks for the script anyway!
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John Van Der Loo
8 Sep 2014 Reply

Thanks for this! Most helpful in managing multiple JDK versions.
Niklas Modin
22 Sep 2014 Reply

This should be added to .bash_profile as part of JDK installation.
Or perhaps burnt into an EPROM on every new Mac sold.

Anyways, thank you for making my day suck a lot less !
Ragunath Jawahar
14 Oct 2014 Reply

Life saver!
Tyler
17 Oct 2014 Reply

Super simple and straight forward! Thank you so much!
Jeff
17 Oct 2014 Reply

Great! Well-explained and just what I was looking for.
Nicolas U.
26 Oct 2014 Reply

Time saver ! Thanks for sharing this.
Fabio Quimbay
5 Nov 2014 Reply

Thank you Johan, the script works perfectly !!
Chris
10 Nov 2014 Reply

I refined the script just a little bit to be able to choose from the existing versions, which saves entering the java_home -V:

function setjdk() {
if [ $# -ne 0 ]; then
switchjdk $@
else
echo “Choose from the following Java versions:”
choosejdk
echo “Please enter the correct full version number:”
read jdkPick
switchjdk $jdkPick
fi
}

function switchjdk() {
removeFromPath ‘/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Home/bin’
if [ -n “${JAVA_HOME+x}” ]; then
removeFromPath $JAVA_HOME
fi
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/libexec/java_home -v $@
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH
}

function choosejdk() {
allVersions=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -V)
}

function removeFromPath() {
export PATH=$(echo $PATH | sed -E -e “s;:$1;;” -e “s;$1:?;;”)
}
Sujesh Chirackkal
12 Nov 2014 Reply

Thanks for this. Really helpful
Torben Pedersen
16 Nov 2014 Reply

Works – nice, thanks.
Mike
21 Nov 2014 Reply

SO awesome! Thanks for reposting this.

michael

25 Nov 2014 Reply

This will work as well, and is relatively robust assuming ‘tr’ and ‘sed’ behave nicely (uses bash):

ver=1.7 # or 1.8
JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v $ver)
# save just in case...
OLD_PATH=$PATH
# one-liner... this is using gnu sed (macports) but should be generic enough
PATH=$(printf -- "${PATH}\n"  | tr ':' '\n' | sed "s,.*JavaVirtualMachines.*,${JAVA_HOME}/bin," | tr '\n' ':' | sed 's/:$//')

ver=1.7 # or 1.8

JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v $ver)

# save just in case...

OLD_PATH=$PATH

# one-liner... this is using gnu sed (macports) but should be generic enough

PATH=$(printf -- "${PATH}\n" | tr ':' '\n' | sed "s,.*JavaVirtualMachines.*,${JAVA_HOME}/bin," | tr '\n' ':' | sed 's/:$//')

Martin Kretz
26 Nov 2014 Reply

I think JEnv (http://www.jenv.be/) solves the problem nicely, with added bonus of customizing java version for each directory.
1. Johan Haleby
  26 Nov 2014 Reply
  
  Thanks for the tip, seems very useful.
Mike Mainguy
26 Nov 2014 Reply

I took a slightly simpler approach with roughly the same effect: http://mikemainguy.blogspot.com/2014/11/easily-changing-java-versions-in-osx.html
Ajay Singh
3 Dec 2014 Reply

Thanks! Works like a charm.
Paul
10 Dec 2014 Reply

This was AWESOME. Thanks!
Jessica
10 Dec 2014 Reply

Thanks for this function, really useful !

However, I have a question : I need 2 versions (jdk 1.8 for maven and 1.7 for jboss).
To switch between my 2 servers, I have to add or remove your function. Is there a solution to do have something who recognize automatically which version I need ? To avoid editing each time the bash profile ?
Thanks in advance !
Elias
17 Dec 2014 Reply

Thank you tons!!!
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Trey
1 Jan 2015 Reply

I think that line 5 should be: “removeFromPath $JAVA_HOME/bin”; otherwise, it leaves behind a stray “/bin:” each time you use setjdk. Except for that, it works great! I only noticed it because I changed the PATH after the call to setjdk and that borked the directory that I’d added.
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Anton
26 Jan 2015 Reply

THANKS – great help!!!
Mike N
28 Jan 2015 Reply

Thanks. I’m using it with latest version of 1.8.
Krupa Singavarapu
28 Jan 2015 Reply

Great this script is working for me.
Ranky
29 Jan 2015 Reply

Very nice. Thanks.
Harald
18 Feb 2015 Reply

Thank you very much! Nevertheless, i.m.h.o. this approach is much easier and more flexible:

https://wimdeblauwe.wordpress.com/2014/03/20/switching-easily-between-java-jdks-on-mac-os-x/

Or is there a problem I don’t recognize? Thanks again.
Paul Hilliar
25 Feb 2015 Reply

Awesome, awesome, awesome and awesome. Thanks for a great script!
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Brett Tofel
13 Mar 2015 Reply

very nice
Alain Moretti
20 Mar 2015 Reply

Just want to thank you for this very useful tip !
Works great when switching between 7u60 and 8u40
Sohil
24 Mar 2015 Reply

Rocking!!!

Thank you buddy.
Steve Coffman
26 Mar 2015 Reply

I noticed that the removeFromPath was leaving the trailing /bin in the PATH. I corrected it (and made it pass shellcheck linter).

#!/bin/bash
#From http://blog.jayway.com/2014/01/15/how-to-switch-jdk-version-on-mac-os-x-maverick/ function setjdk() { if [ $# -ne 0 ]; then removeFromPath '/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Home/bin' #Bash expansion will be "x" if JAVA_HOME set, emptystring if unset #http://wiki.bash-hackers.org/syntax/pe#use_an_alternate_value if [ -n "${JAVA_HOME+x}" ]; then removeJavaFromPath "${JAVA_HOME}/bin" fi export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v "$@") export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH fi } function removeJavaFromPath() { export PATH="$(echo "$PATH" | sed -E -e "s;:$1;;" -e "s;$1:?;;")" }
Steve Coffman
26 Mar 2015 Reply

Ok, the wordpress engine mangled the bash script where I corrected the original’s path bug, and I made it a little more user friendly.

Here’s a clean version:
https://github.com/StevenACoffman/dotfiles/blob/master/bin/shell/functions/java.sh
JeffML
27 Mar 2015 Reply

Beautiful.
Torbjorn Martinsen
7 Apr 2015 Reply

There is a different answer in the SuperUser question you linked with more upvotes. I ended up going for that solution – perhaps consider updating your article if you also like that solution better as your article was the top hit on google for me :)
Sreedish
8 Apr 2015 Reply

That was superb!!! thanks a lot for solving an annoying problem
Tunde
16 Jun 2015 Reply

I’m getting this error when I ran the file:

Babatundes-iMac:~ tfalade$ source ~/.bash_profile
-bash: /Users/tfalade/.bash_profile: line 3: syntax error near unexpected token then' -bash: /Users/tfalade/.bash_profile: line 3: if [ $# -ne 0 ]; then’

Is there something that I’m doing wrong?
Tunde
16 Jun 2015 Reply

I’m getting this error when I ran the function:
Babatundes-iMac:~ tfalade$ source ~/.bash_profile
-bash: /Users/tfalade/.bash_profile: line 3: syntax error near unexpected token then' -bash: /Users/tfalade/.bash_profile: line 3: if[ $# -ne 0 ]; then’

Please help
Josef
16 Oct 2015 Reply

Awesome, works like a charm! I forgot about changing the PATH, I typically just jet JAVA_HOME, but that stopped working recently (in some cases), since there very symlinks like /usr/bin/java ->
Kostas Karkaletsis
23 Oct 2015 Reply

Thanks for the script. Works as it is described!
Lyndon
23 Nov 2015 Reply

Many thanks. Works a treat!!
vito
30 Dec 2015 Reply

Thanks ! Work great !
lonewebraider
30 Dec 2015 Reply

thank’s
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KaelLuo
6 Jan 2017 Reply

Thanks for this, it work for me.
Just setjdk 1.7 should not include in script
Ali BAKAN
25 Aug 2017 Reply

thnx a lot.
Stan
19 Jan 2018 Reply

Working great in 2018 on Sierra!

This Post Has 63 Comments

Nelson

Joaquín

Günter

George

venu

Richard

Margaret

Jitendra Vyas

Johan Haleby

Yakov Fain

John Van Der Loo

Niklas Modin

Ragunath Jawahar

Tyler

Jeff

Nicolas U.

Fabio Quimbay

Chris

Sujesh Chirackkal

Torben Pedersen

Mike

Martin Kretz

Johan Haleby

Ajay Singh

Paul

Jessica

Elias

Trey

Anton

Mike N

Krupa Singavarapu

Ranky

Harald

Paul Hilliar

Brett Tofel

Sohil

Steve Coffman

Steve Coffman

Torbjorn Martinsen

Sreedish

Tunde

Tunde

Josef

Kostas Karkaletsis

Lyndon

vito

KaelLuo

Ali BAKAN

Stan

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