java.lang

Class System

java.lang.Object

java.lang.System

public final class System
extends Object

The System class contains several useful class fields and methods. It cannot be instantiated.

Among the facilities provided by the System class are standard input, standard output, and error output streams; access to externally defined properties and environment variables; a means of loading files and libraries; and a utility method for quickly copying a portion of an array.

Since:

JDK1.0, CLDC 1.0

Field Summary

Fields

Modifier and Type	Field and Description
static PrintStream	err The "standard" error output stream.
static PrintStream	out The "standard" output stream.

Method Summary

Methods

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
static void	arraycopy(Object src, int srcPos, Object dest, int destPos, int length) Copies an array from the specified source array, beginning at the specified position, to the specified position of the destination array.
static long	currentTimeMillis() Returns the current time in milliseconds.
static void	exit(int status) Terminates the currently running Java Virtual Machine.
static void	gc() Runs the garbage collector.
static String	getProperty(String key) Gets the system property indicated by the specified key.
static String	getProperty(String key, String def) Gets the system property indicated by the specified key.
static SecurityManager	getSecurityManager() Gets the system security interface.
static int	identityHashCode(Object x) Returns the same hash code for the given object as would be returned by the default method hashCode(), whether or not the given object's class overrides hashCode().
static long	nanoTime() Returns the current value of the running Java Virtual Machine's high-resolution time source, in nanoseconds.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

err

public static final PrintStream err

The "standard" error output stream. This stream is already open and ready to accept output data.

Typically this stream corresponds to display output or another output destination specified by the host environment or user. By convention, this output stream is used to display error messages or other information that should come to the immediate attention of a user even if the principal output stream, the value of the variable out, has been redirected to a file or other destination that is typically not continuously monitored.

out

public static final PrintStream out

The "standard" output stream. This stream is already open and ready to accept output data. Typically this stream corresponds to display output or another output destination specified by the host environment or user.

For simple stand-alone Java applications, a typical way to write a line of output data is:

     System.out.println(data)
 

See the println methods in class PrintStream.

See Also:

PrintStream.println(), PrintStream.println(boolean), PrintStream.println(char), PrintStream.println(char[]), PrintStream.println(double), PrintStream.println(float), PrintStream.println(int), PrintStream.println(long), PrintStream.println(java.lang.Object), PrintStream.println(java.lang.String)

Method Detail

arraycopy

public static void arraycopy(Object src,
             int srcPos,
             Object dest,
             int destPos,
             int length)

Copies an array from the specified source array, beginning at the specified position, to the specified position of the destination array. A subsequence of array components are copied from the source array referenced by src to the destination array referenced by dest. The number of components copied is equal to the length argument. The components at positions srcPos through srcPos+length-1 in the source array are copied into positions destPos through destPos+length-1, respectively, of the destination array.

If the src and dest arguments refer to the same array object, then the copying is performed as if the components at positions srcPos through srcPos+length-1 were first copied to a temporary array with length components and then the contents of the temporary array were copied into positions destPos through destPos+length-1 of the destination array.

If dest is null, then a NullPointerException is thrown.

If src is null, then a NullPointerException is thrown and the destination array is not modified.

Otherwise, if any of the following is true, an ArrayStoreException is thrown and the destination is not modified:

• The src argument refers to an object that is not an array.
• The dest argument refers to an object that is not an array.
• The src argument and dest argument refer to arrays whose component types are different primitive types.
• The src argument refers to an array with a primitive component type and the dest argument refers to an array with a reference component type.
• The src argument refers to an array with a reference component type and the dest argument refers to an array with a primitive component type.

Otherwise, if any of the following is true, an IndexOutOfBoundsException is thrown and the destination is not modified:

• The srcPos argument is negative.
• The destPos argument is negative.
• The length argument is negative.
• srcPos+length is greater than src.length, the length of the source array.
• destPos+length is greater than dest.length, the length of the destination array.

Otherwise, if any actual component of the source array from position srcPos through srcPos+length-1 cannot be converted to the component type of the destination array by assignment conversion, an ArrayStoreException is thrown. In this case, let k be the smallest nonnegative integer less than length such that src[srcPos+k] cannot be converted to the component type of the destination array; when the exception is thrown, source array components from positions srcPos through srcPos+k-1 will already have been copied to destination array positions destPos through destPos+k-1 and no other positions of the destination array will have been modified. (Because of the restrictions already itemized, this paragraph effectively applies only to the situation where both arrays have component types that are reference types.)

Parameters:

src - the source array.

srcPos - starting position in the source array.

dest - the destination array.

destPos - starting position in the destination data.

length - the number of array elements to be copied.

Throws:

IndexOutOfBoundsException - if copying would cause access of data outside array bounds.

ArrayStoreException - if an element in the src array could not be stored into the dest array because of a type mismatch.

NullPointerException - if either src or dest is null.

currentTimeMillis

public static long currentTimeMillis()

Returns the current time in milliseconds. Note that while the unit of time of the return value is a millisecond, the granularity of the value depends on the underlying operating system and may be larger. For example, many operating systems measure time in units of tens of milliseconds.

See the description of the class Date for a discussion of slight discrepancies that may arise between "computer time" and coordinated universal time (UTC).

Returns:

the difference, measured in milliseconds, between the current time and midnight, January 1, 1970 UTC.

See Also:

Date

exit

public static void exit(int status)

Terminates the currently running Java Virtual Machine. The argument serves as a status code; by convention, a nonzero status code indicates abnormal termination.

This method calls the exit method in class Runtime. This method never returns normally.

The call System.exit(n) is effectively equivalent to the call:

 Runtime.getRuntime().exit(n)
 

Parameters:

status - exit status.

Throws:

SecurityException - if a security manager exists and its checkExit method doesn't allow exit with the specified status.

See Also:

Runtime.exit(int)

gc

public static void gc()

Runs the garbage collector.

Calling the gc method suggests that the Java Virtual Machine expend effort toward recycling unused objects in order to make the memory they currently occupy available for quick reuse. When control returns from the method call, the Java Virtual Machine has made a best effort to reclaim space from all discarded objects.

The call System.gc() is effectively equivalent to the call:

 Runtime.getRuntime().gc()
 

See Also:

Runtime.gc()

getProperty

public static String getProperty(String key)

Gets the system property indicated by the specified key.

If there is a security manager, its checkPropertyAccess method is called with the key as its argument. This may result in a SecurityException.

Parameters:

key - the name of the system property.

Returns:

the string value of the system property, or null if there is no property with that key.

Throws:

SecurityException - if a security manager exists and its checkPropertyAccess method doesn't allow access to the specified system property.

NullPointerException - if key is null.

IllegalArgumentException - if key is empty.

See Also:

SecurityException, SecurityManager.checkPropertyAccess(java.lang.String)

getProperty

public static String getProperty(String key,
                 String def)

Gets the system property indicated by the specified key.

First, if there is a security manager, its checkPropertyAccess method is called with the key as its argument.

If there is no current set of system properties, a set of system properties is first created and initialized in the same manner as for the getProperties method.

Parameters:

key - the name of the system property.

def - a default value.

Returns:

the string value of the system property, or the default value if there is no property with that key.

Throws:

SecurityException - if a security manager exists and its checkPropertyAccess method doesn't allow access to the specified system property.

NullPointerException - if key is null.

IllegalArgumentException - if key is empty.

See Also:

SecurityManager.checkPropertyAccess(java.lang.String)

getSecurityManager

public static SecurityManager getSecurityManager()

Gets the system security interface.

Returns:

if a security manager has already been established for the current application, then that security manager is returned; otherwise, null is returned.

identityHashCode

public static int identityHashCode(Object x)

Returns the same hash code for the given object as would be returned by the default method hashCode(), whether or not the given object's class overrides hashCode(). The hash code for the null reference is zero.

Parameters:

x - object for which the hashCode is to be calculated

Returns:

the hashCode

Since:

JDK1.1

nanoTime

public static long nanoTime()

Returns the current value of the running Java Virtual Machine's high-resolution time source, in nanoseconds.

This method can only be used to measure elapsed time and is not related to any other notion of system or wall-clock time. The value returned represents nanoseconds since some fixed but arbitrary origin time (perhaps in the future, so values may be negative). The same origin is used by all invocations of this method in an instance of a Java virtual machine; other virtual machine instances are likely to use a different origin.

This method provides nanosecond precision, but not necessarily nanosecond resolution (that is, how frequently the value changes) - no guarantees are made except that the resolution is at least as good as that of currentTimeMillis().

Differences in successive calls that span greater than approximately 292 years (2⁶³ nanoseconds) will not correctly compute elapsed time due to numerical overflow.

The values returned by this method become meaningful only when the difference between two such values, obtained within the same instance of a Java virtual machine, is computed.

For example, to measure how long some code takes to execute:

 long startTime = System.nanoTime();
 // ... the code being measured ...
 long estimatedTime = System.nanoTime() - startTime;

To compare two nanoTime values

 long t0 = System.nanoTime();
 ...
 long t1 = System.nanoTime();

one should use t1 - t0 < 0, not t1 < t0, because of the possibility of numerical overflow.

Returns:

the current value of the running Java Virtual Machine's high-resolution time source, in nanoseconds

Since:

1.5