Path with spaces

Question

I am not a programmer and I need to fix some code to solve a problem. The problem is that the app does not read file paths with spaces.

Code:

private void jMenuHELPActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) { //GEN FIRST:event_jMenuHELPActionPerformed
    try {
        Runtime.getRuntime().exec("cmd /c start "+" C:\Users\rafi\Documents\Name with spaces\file.txt");
    } catch (IOException ex) {
        ex.printStackTrace();
    }
    // ...
}

When I try to open a file from within the app, it opens a window with the following error:

Windows cannot `find C:\Users\rafi\Documents\Name`. Make sure that the name is correct.

It reads the path only to the first space.

How can I solve this problem?

Answer 1

Use the exec method that takes an array of arguments instead. Don't forget you also need to escape your backslashes.

Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[] {"cmd", "/c", "start", "C:\\Users\\rafi\\Documents\\Name with spaces\\file.txt"});