FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.5.0"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0-b64)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0-b64, mixed mode, sharing)

ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Microsoft Windows 2000 [Version 5.00.2195]

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :

Passing arguments to a process via Runtime.exec(cmd[]), any arguments with quotes (") around them lose the quotes if the String starts with a whitespace. See the steps to reproduce.


STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :

The following simple classes reproduce:

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;

public class RunMe
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
      throws Exception
   {
      String[] commandArray =
         {
            "java",
            "-classpath",
            ".",
            "PrintArgs",
            " \"arg 1\"",
         };
      Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(commandArray);
             
      StringBuffer stdout = new StringBuffer();
      
      InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(p.getInputStream());
      BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);
      String line = null;
      
      while ((line = br.readLine()) != null)
      {
         stdout.append(line+"\n");
      }
      
      System.out.println(stdout);
   }
}
//------------------------------
public class PrintArgs
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
for (int i = 0; i < args.length; i++)
{
System.out.println("args["+i+"] = [" + args[i] + "]");
}
}
}

Observe the the last parameter in commandArray is surrounded by quotes and has a space in front of it.

The output of running RunMe is:
args[0] = [ arg]
args[1] = [1]

The quotes are getting lost. Removing the space in front of arg1 changes the output to this:
args[0] = [arg 1]





REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
Make sure you don't put spaces in front of your arguments :-)
###@###.### 2005-05-26 13:37:40 GMT