Set multiple system properties Java command line

Is there an easier way to specify multiple System Properties on the command line to a Java program rather than having multiple -D statements?

Trying to avoid this:

 java -jar -DNAME="myName" -DVERSION="1.0" -DLOCATION="home" program.jar

I thought I had seen an example of someone using one -D and some quoted string after that, but I can't find the example again.

Answer is NO. You might have seen an example where somebody would have set something like :

-DArguments=a=1,b=2,c=3,d=4,e=cow

Then the application would parse value of Arguments property string to get individual values. In your main you can get the key values as(Assuming input format is guaranteed):

String line = System.getProperty("Arguments");
if(line != null) {
  String str[] = line.split(",");
    for(int i=1;i<str.length;i++){
        String arr[] = str[i].split("=");
        System.out.println("Key = " + arr[0]);
        System.out.println("Value = " +  arr[1]);
    }
}

Also, the -D should be before the main class or the jar file in the java command line. Example : java -DArguments=a=1,b=2,c=3,d=4,e=cow MainClass

There's nothing on the Documentation that mentions about anything like that.

Here's a quote:

> -Dproperty=value > Set a system property value. If value is a string that > contains spaces, you must enclose the string in double quotes: > > java -Dfoo="some string" SomeClass

Instead of passing the properties as an argument, you may use a .properties for storing them.

You may be able to use the JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS environment variable to set options. It worked for me with Rasbian. See Environment Variables and System Properties which has this to say:

> In many environments, the command line is not readily accessible to > start the application with the necessary command-line options. > > This often happens with applications that use embedded VMs (meaning > they use the Java Native Interface (JNI) Invocation API to start the > VM), or where the startup is deeply nested in scripts. In these > environments the JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS environment variable can be useful > to augment a command line. > > When this environment variable is set, the JNI_CreateJavaVM function > (in the JNI Invocation API), the JNI_CreateJavaVM function adds the > value of the environment variable to the options supplied in its > JavaVMInitArgs argument.

However this environment variable use may be disabled for security reasons.

> In some cases, this option is disabled for security reasons. For > example, on the Oracle Solaris operating system, this option is > disabled when the effective user or group ID differs from the real ID.

See this example showing the difference between specifying on the command line versus using the JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS environment variable.

If the required properties need to set in system then there is no option than -D But if you need those properties while bootstrapping an application then loading properties through the properties files is a best option. It will not require to change build for a single property.