Mac OS X – Set JAVA_HOME

While running Java applications, sometimes you may have to set JAVA_HOME environment variable. Here are the instructions to quickly set JAVA_HOME on your Mac OS X.

1. Open Terminal
2. To Confirm if you have Java
   • Type command: “which java”
   • Hit Enter/Return button
   • The command should return something like this: /usr/bin/java
3. To get location of Java (detailed steps are documents here)
   • Type command: /usr/libexec/java_home
   • Hit Enter/Return button
   • The command should return something like this: /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_79.jdk/Contents/Home
4. To Set JAVA_HOME for single session
   • Type command: export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_79.jdk/Contents/Home
   • Hit Enter/Return button
   • Type command to verify: echo $JAVA_HOME
5. To Set JAVA_HOME permanently
   •  Type command: vi ~/.bash_profile
   • This will open bash_profile file
   • Go to the end, and add following lines
     • JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_79.jdk/Contents/Home
     • export JAVA_HOME;
   • Save the file
   • Restart Terminal
   • Type command to verify: echo $JAVA_HOME