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 a reasonable amount of time the method will return with an error code. Here's what it looks like so far, without the ability to timeout:

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());     }      return process.waitFor(); } 

Can anyone suggest a good way for me to implement a timeout parameter?

Answer 1

If you're using Java 8 or later you could simply use the new waitFor with timeout:

Process p = ... if(!p.waitFor(1, TimeUnit.MINUTES)) {     //timeout - kill the process.      p.destroy(); // consider using destroyForcibly instead }