The "Hello World!

" Application
The sections listed below provide detailed instructions for compiling and running a simple
"Hello World!" application. The first section provides information on getting started with the
NetBeans IDE, an integrated development environment that greatly simplifies the software
development process. The NetBeans IDE runs on all of the platforms listed below. The
remaining sections provide platform-specific instructions for getting started without an
integrated development environment. If you run into problems, be sure to consult the
common problems section; it provides solutions for many issues encountered by new users.

"Hello World!" for the NetBeans IDE These instructions are for users of the NetBeans IDE.
The NetBeans IDE runs on the Java platform, which means that you can use it with any
operating system for which there is a JDK 7 available. These operating systems include
Microsoft Windows, Solaris OS, Linux, and Mac OS X. We recommend using the NetBeans
IDE instead of the command line whenever possible.

"Hello World!" for Microsoft Windows These command-line instructions are for users of
Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Home, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000
Professional, and Windows Vista.

"Hello World!" for Solaris OS and Linux These command-line instructions are for users of
Solaris OS and Linux. Common Problems (and Their Solutions) Consult this page if you
have problems compiling or running your application.
"Hello World!" for the NetBeans IDE
It's time to write your first application! These detailed instructions are for users of the
NetBeans IDE. The NetBeans IDE runs on the Java platform, which means that you can use it
with any operating system for which there is a JDK available. These operating systems
include Microsoft Windows, Solaris OS, Linux, and Mac OS X.

 A Checklist
 Creating Your First Application
o Create an IDE Project
o Add JDK 8 to the Platform List (if necessary)
o Add Code to the Generated Source File
o Compile the Source File
o Run the Program
 Continuing the Tutorial with the NetBeans IDE

A Checklist 
To write your first program, you'll need:

1. The Java SE Development Kit (JDK 7 has been selected in this example)
o For Microsoft Windows, Solaris OS, and Linux: Java SE Downloads Index
page
o For Mac OS X: developer.apple.com
2. The NetBeans IDE
o For all platforms: NetBeans IDE Downloads Index page

Creating Your First Application

Your first application, HelloWorldApp, will simply display the greeting "Hello World!" To
create this program, you will:

 Create an IDE project

When you create an IDE project, you create an environment in which to build and run
your applications. Using IDE projects eliminates configuration issues normally
associated with developing on the command line. You can build or run your
application by choosing a single menu item within the IDE.
  Add code to the generated source file

A source file contains code, written in the Java programming language, that you and
other programmers can understand. As part of creating an IDE project, a skeleton
source file will be automatically generated. You will then modify the source file to
add the "Hello World!" message.

 Compile the source file into a .class file

The IDE invokes the Java programming language compiler (javac), which takes
your source file and translates its text into instructions that the Java virtual machine
can understand. The instructions contained within this file are known as bytecodes.

 Run the program

The IDE invokes the Java application launcher tool (java), which uses the Java
virtual machine to run your application.

Create an IDE Project

To create an IDE project:

1. Launch the NetBeans IDE.

o On Microsoft Windows systems, you can use the NetBeans IDE item in the
Start menu.
o On Solaris OS and Linux systems, you execute the IDE launcher script by
navigating to the IDE's bin directory and typing ./netbeans.
o On Mac OS X systems, click the NetBeans IDE application icon.
2. In the NetBeans IDE, choose File | New Project....

NetBeans IDE with the File | New Project menu item selected.

3. In the New Project wizard, expand the Java category and select Java Application as
shown in the following figure:
 NetBeans IDE, New Project wizard, Choose Project page.

4. In the Name and Location page of the wizard, do the following (as shown in the
figure below):
o In the Project Name field, type Hello World App.
o In the Create Main Class field, type helloworldapp.HelloWorldApp.

NetBeans IDE, New Project wizard, Name and Location page.

5. Click Finish.

The project is created and opened in the IDE. You should see the following components:

 The Projects window, which contains a tree view of the components of the project,
including source files, libraries that your code depends on, and so on.
 The Source Editor window with a file called HelloWorldApp.java open.
 The Navigator window, which you can use to quickly navigate between elements
within the selected class.
 NetBeans IDE with the HelloWorldApp project open.

Add JDK 8 to the Platform List (if necessary)

It may be necessary to add JDK 8 to the IDE's list of available platforms. To do this, choose
Tools | Java Platforms as shown in the following figure:

Selecting the Java Platform Manager from the Tools Menu

If you don't see JDK 8 (which might appear as 1.8 or 1.8.0) in the list of installed platforms,
click Add Platform, navigate to your JDK 8 install directory, and click Finish. You should
now see this newly added platform:

The Java Platform Manager

To set this JDK as the default for all projects, you can run the IDE with the --jdkhome
switch on the command line, or by entering the path to the JDK in the netbeans_j2sdkhome
property of your INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY/etc/netbeans.conf file.

To specify this JDK for the current project only, select Hello World App in the Projects
pane, choose File | Project Properties (Hello World App), click Libraries, then select JDK
1.8 in the Java Platform pulldown menu. You should see a screen similar to the following:

The IDE is now configured for JDK 8.

Add Code to the Generated Source File

When you created this project, you left the Create Main Class checkbox selected in the New
Project wizard. The IDE has therefore created a skeleton class for you. You can add the
"Hello World!" message to the skeleton code by replacing the line:

// TODO code application logic here

with the line:

System.out.println("Hello World!"); // Display the string.

Optionally, you can replace these four lines of generated code:

/**
*
* @author
*/

with these lines:

/**
* The HelloWorldApp class implements an application that
* simply prints "Hello World!" to standard output.
*/

These four lines are a code comment and do not affect how the program runs. Later sections
of this tutorial explain the use and format of code comments.
Be Careful When You Type   

Note: Type all code, commands, and file names exactly as shown. Both the compiler (javac)
and launcher (java) are case-sensitive, so you must capitalize consistently.

HelloWorldApp is not the same as helloworldapp.

Save your changes by choosing File | Save.

The file should look something like the following:

/*
* To change this template, choose Tools | Templates
* and open the template in the editor.
*/

package helloworldapp;

/**
* The HelloWorldApp class implements an application that
* simply prints "Hello World!" to standard output.
*/
public class HelloWorldApp {

/**
* @param args the command line arguments
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Hello World!"); // Display the string.
}

Compile the Source File into a .class File

To compile your source file, choose Run | Build Project (Hello World App) from the IDE's
main menu.

The Output window opens and displays output similar to what you see in the following
figure:
 Output window showing results of building the HelloWorld project.

If the build output concludes with the statement BUILD SUCCESSFUL, congratulations! You
have successfully compiled your program!

If the build output concludes with the statement BUILD FAILED, you probably have a syntax
error in your code. Errors are reported in the Output window as hyperlinked text. You
double-click such a hyperlink to navigate to the source of an error. You can then fix the error
and once again choose Run | Build Project.

When you build the project, the bytecode file HelloWorldApp.class is generated. You can
see where the new file is generated by opening the Files window and expanding the
Hello World App/build/classes/helloworldapp node as shown in the following figure.

Files window, showing the

generated .class file.

Now that you have built the

project, you can run your
program.

Run the Program

From the IDE's menu bar, choose Run | Run Main Project.

The next figure shows what you should now see.

 The program prints "Hello World!" to the Output window (along with other output from the
build script).

Congratulations! Your program works!

Continuing the Tutorial with the NetBeans IDE

The next few pages of the tutorial will explain the code in this simple application. After that,
the lessons go deeper into core language features and provide many more examples.
Although the rest of the tutorial does not give specific instructions about using the NetBeans
IDE, you can easily use the IDE to write and run the sample code. The following are some
tips on using the IDE and explanations of some IDE behavior that you are likely to see:

 Once you have created a project in the IDE, you can add files to the project using the
New File wizard. Choose File | New File, and then select a template in the wizard,
such as the Empty Java File template.
 You can compile and run an individual file (as opposed to a whole project) using the
IDE's Compile File (F9) and Run File (Shift-F6) commands. If you use the Run
Main Project command, the IDE will run the file that the IDE associates as the main
class of the main project. Therefore, if you create an additional class in your
HelloWorldApp project and then try to run that file with the Run Main Project
command, the IDE will run the HelloWorldApp file instead.
 You might want to create separate IDE projects for sample applications that include
more than one source file.
 As you are typing in the IDE, a code completion box might periodically appear. You
can either ignore the code completion box and keep typing, or you can select one of
the suggested expressions. If you would prefer not to have the code completion box
automatically appear, you can turn off the feature. Choose Tools | Options | Editor,
click the Code Completion tab and clear the Auto Popup Completion Window
checkbox.
 If you want to rename the node for a source file in the Projects window, choose
Refactor from IDE's main menu. The IDE prompts you with the Rename dialog box
to lead you through the options of renaming the class and the updating of code that
refers to that class. Make the changes and click Refactor to apply the changes. This
sequence of clicks might seem unnecessary if you have just a single class in your
project, but it is very useful when your changes affect other parts of your code in
larger projects.
 For a more thorough guide to the features of the NetBeans IDE, see the NetBeans
Documentation page.
"Hello World!" for Microsoft Windows
It's time to write your first application! The following instructions are for users of Windows
Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. Instructions for other platforms are in "Hello World!" for
Solaris OS and Linux and "Hello World!" for the NetBeans IDE.

If you encounter problems with the instructions on this page, consult the Common Problems
(and Their Solutions).

 A Checklist
 Creating Your First Application
o Create a Source File
o Compile the Source File into a .class File
o Run the Program

A Checklist 
To write your first program, you'll need:

1. The Java SE Development Kit 8 (JDK 8)

You can download the Windows version now. (Make sure you download the JDK,
not the JRE.) Consult the installation instructions.

2. A text editor

In this example, we'll use Notepad, a simple editor included with the Windows
platforms. You can easily adapt these instructions if you use a different text editor.

These two items are all you'll need to write your first application.

Creating Your First Application

Your first application, HelloWorldApp, will simply display the greeting "Hello world!". To
create this program, you will: 

 Create a source file

A source file contains code, written in the Java programming language, that you and
other programmers can understand. You can use any text editor to create and edit
source files.
  Compile the source file into a .class file

The Java programming language compiler (javac) takes your source file and
translates its text into instructions that the Java virtual machine can understand. The
instructions contained within this file are known as bytecodes.

 Run the program

The Java application launcher tool (java) uses the Java virtual machine to run your
application.

Create a Source File

To create a source file, you have two options:

 You can save the file HelloWorldApp.java on your computer and avoid a lot of
typing. Then, you can go straight to Compile the Source File into a .class File.
 Or, you can use the following (longer) instructions.

First, start your editor. You can launch the Notepad editor from the Start menu by selecting
Programs > Accessories > Notepad. In a new document, type in the following code:

/**
 * The HelloWorldApp class implements an application that
 * simply prints "Hello World!" to standard output.
 */
class HelloWorldApp {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello World!"); // Display the string.
    }
}

Be Careful When You Type   

Note: Type all code, commands, and file names exactly as shown. Both the compiler (javac)
and launcher (java) are case-sensitive, so you must capitalize consistently.

HelloWorldApp is not the same as helloworldapp.

Save the code in a file with the name HelloWorldApp.java. To do this in Notepad, first
choose the File > Save As menu item. Then, in the Save As dialog box:

1. Using the Save in combo box, specify the folder (directory) where you'll save your
file. In this example, the directory is myapplication on the C drive.
2. In the File name text field, type "HelloWorldApp.java", including the quotation
marks.
3. From the Save as type combo box, choose Text Documents (*.txt).
4. In the Encoding combo box, leave the encoding as ANSI.
When you're finished, the dialog box should look like this.

The Save As dialog just before you click Save.

Now click Save, and exit Notepad.

Compile the Source File into a .class File

Bring up a shell, or "command," window. You can do this from the Start menu by choosing
Run... and then entering cmd. The shell window should look similar to the following figure.

A shell window.

The prompt shows your current directory. When you bring up the prompt, your current
directory is usually your home directory for Windows XP (as shown in the preceding figure.

To compile your source file, change your current directory to the directory where your file is
located. For example, if your source directory is myapplication on the C drive, type the
following command at the prompt and press Enter:

cd C:\myapplication

Now the prompt should change to C:\myapplication>.

Note: 

To change to a directory on a different drive, you must type an extra command: the name of
the drive. For example, to change to the myapplication directory on the D drive, you must
enter D:, as follows:

C:\>D:

D:\>cd myapplication
D:\myapplication>

If you enter dir at the prompt, you should see your source file, as follows:

C:\>cd myapplication

C:\myapplication>dir
Volume in drive C is System
Volume Serial Number is F2E8-C8CC

Directory of C:\myapplication

2014-04-24 01:34 PM <DIR> .

2014-04-24 01:34 PM <DIR> ..
2014-04-24 01:34 PM 267 HelloWorldApp.java
1 File(s) 267 bytes
2 Dir(s) 93,297,991,680 bytes free

C:\myapplication>

Now you are ready to compile. At the prompt, type the following command and press Enter.

javac HelloWorldApp.java

The compiler has generated a bytecode file, HelloWorldApp.class. At the prompt, type dir
to see the new file that was generated as follows:

C:\myapplication>javac HelloWorldApp.java

C:\myapplication>dir
Volume in drive C is System
Volume Serial Number is F2E8-C8CC

Directory of C:\myapplication

2014-04-24 02:07 PM <DIR> .

2014-04-24 02:07 PM <DIR> ..
2014-04-24 02:07 PM 432 HelloWorldApp.class
2014-04-24 01:34 PM 267 HelloWorldApp.java
2 File(s) 699 bytes
2 Dir(s) 93,298,032,640 bytes free

C:\myapplication>

Now that you have a .class file, you can run your program.

If you encounter problems with the instructions in this step, consult the Common Problems
(and Their Solutions).

Run the Program

In the same directory, enter the following command at the prompt:

java -cp . HelloWorldApp

You should see the following on your screen:

C:\myapplication>java -cp . HelloWorldApp

Hello World!

C:\myapplication>

Congratulations! Your program works!

If you encounter problems with the instructions in this step, consult the Common Problems
(and Their Solutions).
"Hello World!" for Solaris OS and Linux
It's time to write your first application! These detailed instructions are for users of Solaris OS
and Linux. Instructions for other platforms are in "Hello World!" for Microsoft Windows and
"Hello World!" for the NetBeans IDE.

If you encounter problems with the instructions on this page, consult the Common Problems
(and Their Solutions).

 A Checklist
 Creating Your First Application
o Create a Source File
o Compile the Source File into a .class File
o Run the Program

A Checklist 
To write your first program, you'll need:

1. The Java SE Development Kit 8 (JDK 8)

You can download the Solaris OS or Linux version now. (Make sure you download
the JDK, not the JRE.) Consult the installation instructions.

2. A text editor

In this example, we'll use Pico, an editor available for many UNIX-based platforms.
You can easily adapt these instructions if you use a different text editor, such as vi or
emacs.

These two items are all you'll need to write your first application.

Creating Your First Application

Your first application, HelloWorldApp, will simply display the greeting "Hello world!". To
create this program, you will:

 Create a source file

 A source file contains code, written in the Java programming language, that you and
other programmers can understand. You can use any text editor to create and edit
source files.

 Compile the source file into a .class file

The Java programming language compiler (javac) takes your source file and
translates its text into instructions that the Java virtual machine can understand. The
instructions contained within this .class file are known as bytecodes.

 Run the program

The Java application launcher tool (java) uses the Java virtual machine to run your
application.

Create a Source File

To create a source file, you have two options:

 You can save the file HelloWorldApp.java on your computer and avoid a lot of
typing. Then, you can go straight to Compile the Source File.
 Or, you can use the following (longer) instructions.

First, open a shell, or "terminal," window.

A new terminal window.

When you first bring up the prompt, your current directory will usually be your home
directory. You can change your current directory to your home directory at any time by
typing cd at the prompt and then pressing Return.

The source files you create should be kept in a separate directory. You can create a directory
by using the command mkdir. For example, to create the directory examples/java in the
/tmp directory, use the following commands:

cd /tmp
mkdir examples
cd examples
mkdir java

To change your current directory to this new directory, you then enter:

cd /tmp/examples/java

Now you can start creating your source file.

Start the Pico editor by typing pico at the prompt and pressing Return. If the system
responds with the message pico: command not found, then Pico is most likely unavailable.
Consult your system administrator for more information, or use another editor.

When you start Pico, it'll display a new, blank buffer. This is the area in which you will type
your code.

Type the following code into the new buffer:

/**
 * The HelloWorldApp class implements an application that
 * simply prints "Hello World!" to standard output.
 */
class HelloWorldApp {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello World!"); // Display the string.
    }
}

Be Careful When You Type   

Note: Type all code, commands, and file names exactly as shown. Both the compiler (javac)
and launcher (java) are case-sensitive, so you must capitalize consistently.

HelloWorldApp is not the same as helloworldapp.

Save the code in a file with the name HelloWorldApp.java. In the Pico editor, you do this
by typing Ctrl-O and then, at the bottom where you see the prompt File Name to write:,
entering the directory in which you wish to create the file, followed by
HelloWorldApp.java. For example, if you wish to save HelloWorldApp.java in the
directory /tmp/examples/java, then you type /tmp/examples/java/HelloWorldApp.java
and press Return.

You can type Ctrl-X to exit Pico.

Compile the Source File into a .class File

Bring up another shell window. To compile your source file, change your current directory to
the directory where your file is located. For example, if your source directory is
/tmp/examples/java, type the following command at the prompt and press Return:

cd /tmp/examples/java

If you enter pwd at the prompt, you should see the current directory, which in this example
has been changed to /tmp/examples/java.

If you enter ls at the prompt, you should see your file.

Results of the ls command, showing the .java source file.

Now are ready to compile the source file. At the prompt, type the following command and
press Return.

javac HelloWorldApp.java

The compiler has generated a bytecode file, HelloWorldApp.class. At the prompt, type ls
to see the new file that was generated: the following figure.
 Results of the ls command, showing the generated .class file.

Now that you have a .class file, you can run your program.

If you encounter problems with the instructions in this step, consult the Common Problems
(and Their Solutions).

Run the Program

In the same directory, enter at the prompt:

java HelloWorldApp

The next figure shows what you should now see.

 The output prints "Hello World!" to the screen.

Congratulations! Your program works!

If you encounter problems with the instructions in this step, consult the Common Problems
(and Their Solutions).