JVM thread dump location

Question

When I issue a kill -3 <pid> command to my Java program, it generates the thread dump on the console. How do I redirect this to a file?

Answer 1

Two options:

Run your Java application with stdout redirected

java com.example.MyApp > out.txt

Use jstack instead.

The jstack utility allows you to get a thread dump and send the output to the current console instead of the stdout of the Java application, allowing you to redirect it.

For example, if the PID of your Java application is 12345 (use the jps utility to find it quickly):

jstack 12345 > threads.txt

Answer 2

I usually use the NetBeans profiler, but jvisualvm is available from the command line.

Answer 3

If you want details of all threads and other JVM details, try jconsole.