# Invoking Processor IDE from command line
**URL:** https://discourse.processing.org/t/invoking-processor-ide-from-command-line/32238
**Category:** Processing
**Created:** [September 13, 2021, 7:04pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/invoking-processor-ide-from-command-line/32238 "2021-09-13T19:04:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@rhole](https://discourse.processing.org/u/rhole)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2021, 7:04pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/invoking-processor-ide-from-command-line/32238/1 "2021-09-13T19:04:01Z")
I am running Processing on Raspberry Pi 3. I work mainly one one rather long sketch. It would be handy to invoke the IDE editor from the command line so I do not have to start Processing to a generic sketch then load mine as a second step and close the first window
I can start Processing IDE from the command line by
```auto
/usr/local/bin/processing
```
This works but still gets me to an empty sketch. I would like to supply the file path to my sketch but haven’t found any way to do it.
I can run the sketch without the IDE by:
```auto
/usr/bin/processing-java --sketch=filePath --run
```
Utilmately I would like to put an icon on the desktop to start the editor with my sketch.
---
### Author:  [@josephh](https://discourse.processing.org/u/josephh)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2021, 7:24pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/invoking-processor-ide-from-command-line/32238/2 "2021-09-13T19:24:10Z")
Hi @rhole,
Welcome to the forum! 😉
If you print out the `processing` shell script, you have:
```bash
#!/bin/sh
# This script runs Processing, using the JRE in the Processing
# installation directory.
# If your system needs a different version of Java than what's included
# in the download, replace the 'java' folder with the contents of a new
# Oracle JRE (Java 8 only), or create a symlink named "java" in the
# Processing installation directory that points to the JRE home directory.
# This must be a Sun/Oracle JDK. For more details, see here:
# https://github.com/processing/processing/wiki/Supported-Platforms
# Thanks to Ferdinand Kasper for this build script. [fry]
# JARs required from JDK (anywhere in/below the JDK home directory)
JDKLIBS="rt.jar"
# Set this to non-zero for logging
LOGGING=0
# Logs name and value of a variable to stdout if LOGGING is non-zero.
# Expects the variable name as parameter $1.
log() {
if [$LOGGING -ne 0]; then
eval echo $1=\$$1
fi
}
# Locates JDKLIBS in a directory and its subdirectories and saves their
# absolute paths as list to JDKCP. Expects the directory as parameter $1.
# Sets SUCCESS to 1 if all libraries were found, to 0 otherwise.
make_jdkcp() {
# Back out of JRE directory if apparently located inside a JDK
if [-f "$1/../bin/java"]; then
DIR="$1/.."
else
DIR="$1"
fi
log DIR
JDKCP=
SUCCESS=1
# Locate JDKLIBS
for L in $JDKLIBS; do
# Locate only the first library with a matching name
LIB=`find "$DIR" -name $L 2>/dev/null | head -n 1`
log L
log LIB
# Library found?
if [-n "$LIB"]; then
JDKCP="$JDKCP"${JDKCP:+:}"$LIB"
else
SUCCESS=0
fi
done
log JDKCP
}
# Get absolute path of directory where this script is located
APPDIR=`readlink -f "$0"`
APPDIR=`dirname "$APPDIR"`
log APPDIR
# Try using a local JDK from the same directory as this script
JDKDIR=`readlink -f "$APPDIR/java"`
make_jdkcp "$JDKDIR"
log SUCCESS
# Don't use the installed JDK, because it's not supported.
# Local JDK found?
#if [$SUCCESS -ne 1]; then
# # No, try using the preferred system JRE/JDK (if any)
# JDKDIR=`which java` && JDKDIR=`readlink -e "$JDKDIR"` && JDKDIR=`dirname "$JDKDIR"`/..
# make_jdkcp "$JDKDIR"
# log SUCCESS
#fi
# Add all required JARs to CLASSPATH
CLASSPATH="$CLASSPATH"${CLASSPATH:+:}"$JDKCP"
for LIB in "$APPDIR"/lib/*.jar; do
CLASSPATH="$CLASSPATH"${CLASSPATH:+:}"$LIB"
done
for LIB in "$APPDIR"/core/library/*.jar; do
CLASSPATH="$CLASSPATH"${CLASSPATH:+:}"$LIB"
done
for LIB in "$APPDIR"/modes/java/mode/*.jar; do
CLASSPATH="$CLASSPATH"${CLASSPATH:+:}"$LIB"
done
export CLASSPATH
log CLASSPATH
# Make all JDK binaries available in PATH
export PATH="$JDKDIR/bin":"$PATH"
log PATH
current_name=`basename $0`
cmd_name='processing-java'
if [$current_name = $cmd_name]
then
java -Djna.nosys=true -Djava.ext.dirs="$APPDIR"/java/lib/ext -Xmx256m processing.mode.java.Commander "$@"
exit $?
else
# Start Processing in the same directory as this script
if ["$1"]; then
SKETCH=`readlink -f "$1"`
else
SKETCH=
fi
cd "$APPDIR"
java -splash:lib/about-1x.png -Djna.nosys=true -Djava.ext.dirs="$APPDIR"/java/lib/ext -Xmx256m processing.app.Base "$SKETCH" &
fi
```
The interesting part is at the end when invoking the IDE with the `SKETCH` variable:
```bash
# Start Processing in the same directory as this script
if ["$1"]; then
SKETCH=`readlink -f "$1"`
else
SKETCH=
fi
cd "$APPDIR"
java -splash:lib/about-1x.png -Djna.nosys=true -Djava.ext.dirs="$APPDIR"/java/lib/ext -Xmx256m processing.app.Base "$SKETCH" &
```
It’s checking for `$1` which is the second argument in the list of arguments and if it exists it assigns it to `SKETCH` with `readlink` (which resolves symbolic link or filenames to a path) which is then passed to `processing.app.Base`.
If you modify the script and print out the `SKETCH` variable with `echo $SKETCH`, you get the second argument as an absolute path:
```auto
$ processing sketch/sketch.pde
/absolute/path/to/sketch/sketch.pde
```
So you need to **pass the path of your `.pde` file to the `processing` command** in order to open the sketch with the IDE! 😋
---
### Author:  [@rhole](https://discourse.processing.org/u/rhole)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2021, 7:38pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/invoking-processor-ide-from-command-line/32238/3 "2021-09-13T19:38:51Z")
Thanks. I was SO close, I specified the sketch folder, not full path to the sketch .pde file. It works great now.
Now I will work of putting a desktop icon to automate the command line. That info should be readily available.
```auto
/usr/local/bin/processing /home/pi/sketchbook/xxx/xxx.pde
# where xxx is the name of the sketch to be editted
```