How can I set the PATH variable for javac so I can manually compile my .java works?

Solution 1:

That would be:

set "PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_18\bin"

You can also append ;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_18\bin to the PATH in the user environment dialog. That would allow you to use javac and other java tools directly form any cmd shell without setting the path first. The user environment dialog used to be somewhere in the system properties in XP, I have no idea where it is in Windows 7.

Solution 2:

Typing the SET PATH command into the command shell every time you fire it up could get old for you pretty fast. Three alternatives:

1. Run javac from a batch (.CMD) file. Then you can just put the SET PATH into that file before your javac execution. Or you could do without the SET PATH if you simply code the explicit path to javac.exe
2. Set your enhanced, improved PATH in the "environment variables" configuration of your system.
3. In the long run you'll want to automate your Java compiling with Ant. But that will require yet another extension to PATH first, which brings us back to (1) and (2).

Solution 3:

Step 1: Set the PATH variable JAVA_HOME to the path of the JDK present on the system. Step 2: in the Path variable add the path of the C:\Program Files\Java\jdk(version)\bin

This should solve the problem. Happy coding!!