java - How to make pipes work with Runtime.exec()? -

consider following code:

string commandf = "ls /etc | grep release";  try {      // execute command , wait complete     process child = runtime.getruntime().exec(commandf);     child.waitfor();      // print first 16 bytes of output     inputstream = child.getinputstream();     byte[] b = new byte[16];     i.read(b, 0, b.length);      system.out.println(new string(b));  } catch (ioexception e) {     e.printstacktrace();     system.exit(-1); } 

the program's output is:

/etc: adduser.co 

when run shell, of course, works expected:

poundifdef@parker:~/rabbit_test$ ls /etc | grep release lsb-release 

the internets tell me that, due fact pipe behavior isn't cross-platform, brilliant minds work in java factory producing java can't guarantee pipes work.

how can this?

i not going of parsing using java constructs rather grep , sed, because if want change language, i'll forced re-write parsing code in language, totally no-go.

how can make java piping , redirection when calling shell commands?

write script, , execute script instead of separate commands.

pipe part of shell, can this:

string[] cmd = { "/bin/sh", "-c", "ls /etc | grep release" };  process p = runtime.getruntime().exec(cmd);