Run Java Console Input as Statement

Question

I am writing a command-line matrix manipulation tool in Java, and was wondering if it is possible to run Java statements through console input.

I was thinking of using the java.util.Scanner object since that's what I'm using for the rest of my application, but I am open to any solution.

Here is a copy of my tool's application class, so you can see what I mean:

package projects.matrix.main;
import static java.lang.System.*;
import java.util.Scanner;
import projects.matrix.util.MatrixTool;
/**
 * MATRIX :: Application class for the matrix toolset. 
 * @author  toner
 * @version May 28 2015
 * @since   1.8
 **/
public class MarixApp {
    public static void main (String [] args) {
    out.println("****************************** START*****************"  
     + "*************\n");
        runCommandLine();
        out.println("******************************  END  *****************" 
         + "*************\n");
    }

    /**
     * MATRIX.MAIN :: runCommandLine runs a loop command line 
     * @param   none
     * @return  none
     **/
    public static void runCommandLine () {
        // method vars
        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(in);
        MatrixTool matrixtool = new MatrixTool();
        int[][] matrix1 = new int[0][0];
        int[][] matrix2 = new int[0][0];
        int[][] resultmatrix = new int[0][0];
        String command = "";
        int executerret = 0;

        // welcome prints
        out.println("[!] welcome to toner's matrix tool command-line");
        out.println("[!] enter 'HELP' to view available commands\n");

        // commmand-line loop
        do {
            out.print(" [?] >> ");
            command = scanner.nextLine();
            executerret = executecmd(command);
        } while (executerret != -1);
    }

    /**
     * MATRIX.MAIN :: executecmd executes the command passed by runCommandLine
     * @param   cmd         : String
     * @return  returncode  : int
     **/
    public static int executecmd (String cmd) {
        // method vars
        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(in);
        MatrixTool matrixtool = new MatrixTool();
        int returncode = 0;

        // command executer
        switch (cmd) {
            case "HELP" : 
            case "help" : 
                out.println("\n"
                    + "  [%]    ADD        DIVIDE     HELP       "
                    + "MULTIPLY   PRINT"
                    + "  [%]    RUNJAVA    SUBSTRACT  SETMTRX    "
                    + "SETMTRX1   SETMTRX2"
                    + "  [%]    TRANSPOSE  RUNOPS     RESET      "
                    + "EXIT\n");
                break;
            // rest of commands go here
        }
    }
}

Regards.

Answer 1

If by running console input as java statements, you mean taking the exact input from the console and run it inside your application, you need to compile and run them. You can do so using the Compiler API