javac : Compiling a .java file which uses other classes in it

Question

HI i have 3 java files

a.java  
b.java  
c.java

I managed to generate .class files for both a and b using

javac example/a.java  
javac example/b.java

but when i do the same for c.java I get the error error: cannot find symbol b and c

Any suggestions on how i could solve this problem ?

All the java files are in the same folder

Actually a and b were suppositions and c is actually Order.java Here is the code Customer,Address,Shipping and Item are the other objects which compiled without any trouble. Since i couldnt paste the code here i posted the code at link — Rajeshwar
– Rajeshwar, Commented May 7, 2012 at 0:48

Tim Pote · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-07 01:15:45Z

24

You have to have classes a and b in your classpath when you try to compile class c. This allows the compiler to verify that they exist, figure out what methods they have, etc.

javac is pretty sensitive to package names and classpaths. The easiest thing to do is to compile all three at the same time like so javac example/a.java example/b.java example/c.java.

If you go to the parent directory of example (let's call it src), then you can run the following:

javac -cp src src/example/c.java

The reason you have to do it this way is because your classes have their packages listed as example. Because of your package name, javac is looking for the example directory in its classpath, where it expects to find a.class and b.class.

edited May 7, 2012 at 1:15

answered May 7, 2012 at 0:43

Tim Pote

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2 Comments

Rajeshwar Over a year ago

java -cp example c.java (Invalid syntax and path)

Rajeshwar Over a year ago

javac example/a.java example/b.java example/c.java or javac *.java worked

Amir Afghani · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-07 00:41:58Z

2

Presumably you're not in the example/ directory when you run javac. Try

javac -cp example c.java

Or just cd into that directory. The classpath is not automatically resolved for the classes c.java depends on.

answered May 7, 2012 at 0:41

Amir Afghani

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2 Comments

user1241335 Over a year ago

If his package is example that may make a problem

Rajeshwar Over a year ago

@Amir Afghani Have a look at the last post at link

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