using windows command line to copy and paste. getting file not found error

[john bullwinkle]

i'm needing to copy and paste + rename a file from one dir to another. i tried doing it in strictly java code, i was successful, but when opening the file, it is corrupt. so i decided to switch my method to just pass a copy line to the windows command line. i have successfully ran the copy line in the windows command prompt, however am getting an error in my code when doing it. here is the code

   
 try{        
           String copy = "COPY \"" + inputFile + "\" \"" + outputFile + "\"";
           System.out.println("copy = " + copy);
           Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("COPY \"" + inputFile + "\" \"" + outputFile + "\"");
         
          String open = " file = " + outputFile;
          System.out.println(open);
	  //Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("rundll32 url.dll,FileProtocolHandler" + outputFile);
	  p.waitFor();
 
	  System.out.println("Done");
 
     }catch(Exception ex){
	  ex.printStackTrace();
     }
 

here is the output i'm getting

copy = COPY "C:\serviceTech\config\Tech\LPEquipmentLease_distributed.pdf" "C:\serviceTech\CompletedForms\ItemLPEqpLsetest_test_test.pdf"
java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "COPY": CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified
at java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:460)
at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Runtime.java:593)
at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Runtime.java:431)
at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Runtime.java:328)
at servicetech.SelectionScreen.getFileNames(SelectionScreen.java:338)

if i copy everything after the 'copy =' line into the command line, it works fine. so i'm unsure why i'm getting this cannot find the file specified.

thanks in advance for your help.

[Rob Spoor]

Welcome to the Ranch, John!

COPY is not an application; it's a built-in command of CMD.EXE. You'll need to run that using the /C flag. Run CMD /? for more info.

But I'd first investigate why the files became corrupted. Can you show us the old Java copy code?

[john bullwinkle]

thanks for the help. not sure if i fully understand the way i should format the line.

i tried this:

 Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("cmd COPY \"" + inputFile + "\" \"" + outputFile + "\""); 

it runs, however doesn't copy the file.

here is the original code i used to copy. option1-3 is strings from user input

  System.out.println("option1 = " + option1 + " option 2 " + option2 + " option3 " + option3);
        System.out.println("formFileName = " + formFileName[selectedFile]);
        File inputFile = new File("C:\\serviceTech\\config\\Tech\\" + formFileName[selectedFile] + ".pdf");
        File outputFile = new File("C:\\serviceTech\\CompletedForms\\" +endFileName[selectedFile]+option1+"_"+option2+"_"+option3+".pdf");
        ///start here. need to create extra column in config file for shortened version of name for endFileName
        //also need to trim out option1-2-3 to maximum of 10 chars.
        FileWriter out;
        /*
        try {
            
            FileReader in = new FileReader(inputFile);
            out = new FileWriter(outputFile);
            int c;
            
            while ((c = in.read()) != -1)
                out.write(c);
            
            in.close();
            out.close();
        } catch (FileNotFoundException ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace();
        }*/

[john bullwinkle]

nvm. i forgot to put the /c flag in there.

[Campbell Ritchie]

Please avoid abbreviations like "nvm".

[Rob Spoor]

And before we forget, When Runtime.exec() won't.

[Mohamed Sanaulla]

You can use Execlibrary from the Apache Commons. Its pretty handy utility for running external programs from Java.