How to add a timeout value when using Java's Runtime.exec()?

Question

I have a method I am using to execute a command on the local host. I\'d like to add a timeout parameter to the method so that if the command being called doesn\'t finish in

Answer 1

You can launch a Thread that sleeps for the time you want and after the sleep changing a boolean that you loop on in your executeCommandLine method.

Something like that (not tested nor compiled, this solution is a prototype you should refactor it if it suit you needs):

public static int executeCommandLine(final String commandLine,
                                     final boolean printOutput,
                                     final boolean printError)
    throws IOException, InterruptedException
{
    Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
    Process process = runtime.exec(commandLine);

    if (printOutput)
    {
        BufferedReader outputReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));
        System.out.println("Output:  " + outputReader.readLine());
    }

    if (printError)
    {
        BufferedReader errorReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getErrorStream()));
        System.out.println("Error:  " + errorReader.readLine());
    }

    ret = -1;
    final[] b = {true};
    new Thread(){
       public void run(){
           Thread.sleep(2000); //to adapt
           b[0] = false;
       }
    }.start();
    while(b[0])
    {
          ret = process.waitFor();
    }

    return ret;
}