Bash function to switch Java versions

setjava() {
	if [ "$1" = "-q" ]; then
                local quiet=true
                shift
        fi

	local jdk=~/Applications/Java/jdk1.$1
        if [ ! -d "${jdk}" ]; then
                echo Jdk not found: ${jdk}
                return 1
        fi
	export JAVA_HOME=${jdk}
        export PATH=${JAVA_HOME}/bin:${PATH}
        if [ -z "${quiet}" ]; then
                java -version
        fi
}

export -f setjava

I have symlinks for all major versions of Java so that in IntelliJ and the command line I can upgrade minor Java versions just by changing the symlink:

$ ls -la ~/Applications/Java/
total 20
drwxrwxr-x. 5 dan dan 4096 Mar 27 10:12 .
drwxrwxr-x. 8 dan dan 4096 Mar 27 10:13 ..
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 dan dan   11 Mar 27 10:12 jdk1.6 -> jdk1.6.0_45
drwxr-xr-x. 8 dan dan 4096 Mar 26  2013 jdk1.6.0_45
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 dan dan   11 Mar 18 13:55 jdk1.7 -> jdk1.7.0_51
drwxr-xr-x. 8 dan dan 4096 Dec 19 03:24 jdk1.7.0_51
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 dan dan    8 Mar 27 10:12 jdk1.8 -> jdk1.8.0
drwxr-xr-x. 8 dan dan 4096 Mar  4 11:18 jdk1.8.0

Then I can switch version by either just saying the major version:

$ setjava 8
java version "1.8.0"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0-b132)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.0-b70, mixed mode)

or I can be specific about minor version:

$ setjava 6.0_45
java version "1.6.0_45"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_45-b06)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.45-b01, mixed mode)

I’ve also started adding the following to my build and execution scripts so they can specify the Java version themselves:

type -t setjava > /dev/null && setjava -q 8 || if [ -n "${JAVA_HOME}" ]; then PATH=${JAVA_HOME}/bin:${PATH}; fi

Currently this is designed to be optional and will fallback to JAVA_HOME etc.