How to switch between different java versions in Linux?

There are two ways to switch between different Java versions in Linux:

Using the update-java-alternatives command

The update-java-alternatives command is a utility that is used to manage the default Java version on your system.

1 - To check the Java versions installed on your system by opening a terminal and running the command:

update-java-alternatives --list

OR

sudo update-alternatives --config java

Executing this command will display a list of installed Java JDKs and JREs

  Selection    Path                                             Priority   Status
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
* 0            /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/java   1101       auto mode
  1            /opt/java/jdk1.8.0_211/bin/java                  1          manual mode
  2            /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/bin/java      1101       manual mode

2 - To switch to a different Java version, you can use the following command:

sudo update-java-alternatives --set <path-to-java-version>

Replace path-to-java-version with the name or path of the desired Java version.

For example, to switch to Java 11, you would use the following command:

sudo update-java-alternatives --set /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64

3 - Verify that the switch was successful by running the command:

java -version

This command will display the currently active Java version.

Using SDKMan.

https://github.com/sdkman/sdkman-cli SDKMan is a tool that can be used to install and manage multiple Java versions on your system. To switch to a different Java version using SDKMan, you can use the following command:

sdk use java <version>

For example, to switch to Java 11, you would use the following command:

sdk use java 11

I hope this helps!