How to fetch Java version using single line command in Linux

Question

I want to fetch the Java version in Linux in a single command.

I am new to awk so I am trying something like

java -version|awk '{print$3}'   

But that does not return the version. How would I fetch the 1.6.0_21 from the below Java version output?

java version "1.6.0_21" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_21-b06) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 17.0-b16, mixed mode) 

Answer 1

1. Redirect stderr to stdout.
2. Get first line

3. Filter the version number.

   java -version 2>&1 | head -n 1 | awk -F '"' '{print $2}' 

Answer 2

This is a slight variation, but PJW's solution didn't quite work for me:

java -version 2>&1 | head -n 1 | cut -d'"' -f2 

just cut the string on the delimiter " (double quotes) and get the second field.