Open a folder in explorer using Java

Question

From Java code, how do I open a specific folder (e.g. C:\Folder) in the platform's file explorer (e.g. Windows Explorer)? The examples are for Windows but I need a cross platform solution.

Answer 1

Quite simply:

Desktop.getDesktop().open(new File("C:\\folder"));

Note: java.awt.Desktop was introduced in JDK 6.

Answer 2

Yes, you can do it with JDK 6 with the below code:

import java.awt.Desktop;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;

public class OpenFolder {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        Desktop desktop = Desktop.getDesktop();
        File dirToOpen = null;
        try {
            dirToOpen = new File("c:\\folder");
            desktop.open(dirToOpen);
        } catch (IllegalArgumentException iae) {
            System.out.println("File Not Found");
        }
    }
}

Note:

Desktop desktop = Desktop.getDesktop();

is not supported in JDK 5

Answer 3

Try

 Runtime.getRuntime().exec("explorer C:\bin");