Where is Java Installed on Mac OS X?

Use /usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8 command on a terminal shell to figure out where is your Java 1.8 home directory

If you just want to find out the home directory of your most recent version of Java, omit the version. e.g. /usr/libexec/java_home

You could use

/usr/libexec/java_home

command in your terminal to know the path where Java being installed.

Turns out that I actually had the Java 7 JRE installed, not the JDK. The correct download link is here. After installing it, jdk1.7.0jdk appears in the JavaVirtualMachines directory.

If you install just the JRE, it seems to be put at:

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home

Use unix find function to find javas installed...

sudo find / -name java

Try This, It's easy way to find java installed path in Mac OS X,

GoTO

1 ) /Library i.e Macintosh HD/Library

https://i.stack.imgur.com/7BNFT.png

2) Click on Library in that we find Java folder.

https://i.stack.imgur.com/jUGhY.png

3) So final path is

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_144.jdk/Contents/Home

Hope so this is help for someone .

If you type

java -verbose 

This also gives the location from which the jars are loaded and hence also the java path.

Java package structure of Mac OS is a bit different from Windows. Don't be upset for this as a developer just needs to set PATH and JAVA_HOME.

So in .bash_profile set JAVA_HOME and PATH as below. This example is for Java 6:

export JAVA_HOME=/System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home
export PATH=/System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home/bin:$PATH

just write /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/
in Go to Folder --> Go in Finder

Edited: Alias to current java version is /Library/Java/Home

For more information: a link

type which java in terminal to show where it is installed.

For :

OS X : 10.11.6

Java : 8

I confirm the answer of @Morrie .

   export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home;

But if you are running containers your life will be easier

I have just installed the JDK for version 21 of Java SE 7 and found that it is installed in a different directory from Apple's Java 6. It is in /Library/Java... rather then in /System/Library/Java.... Running /usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.7 versus -v 1.6 will confirm this.

I tried serkan's solution, it found java 7's location on OS X Mavericks. it is resided in "/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_51.jdk/" but to make it the default JDK I had to set JAVA_HOME system variable in .bash_profile in home directory to "/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_51.jdk/Contents/Home/" so its up and running now thanks to serkan's idea

In case you have multiple Java versions installed, use:

$ /usr/libexec/java_home --verbose

or:

$ /usr/libexec/java_home -V (That's an uppercase V!)

to list all versions and architectures.

Sample output:

$ /usr/libexec/java_home -V
Matching Java Virtual Machines (4):
    12.0.1 (x86_64) "Oracle Corporation" - "Java SE 12.0.1" /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-12.0.1.jdk/Contents/Home
    1.8.202.08 (x86_64) "Oracle Corporation" - "Java" /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home
    1.8.0_282 (x86_64) "Amazon" - "Amazon Corretto 8" /Users/username/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/corretto-1.8.0_282/Contents/Home
    1.8.0_202 (x86_64) "Oracle Corporation" - "Java SE 8" /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_202.jdk/Contents/Home
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-12.0.1.jdk/Contents/Home

Try to check in here
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines

if you are using sdkman

you can check it with sdk home java <installed_java_version>

$  sdk home java 8.0.252.j9-adpt
/Users/admin/.sdkman/candidates/java/8.0.252.j9-adpt

you can get your installed java version with

$ sdk list java

The System Preferences then Java control panel then Java then View will show the exact location of the currently installed default JRE.

MacOS BigSur

Add following under .zshrc file. If .zshrc is not present, create and add.

export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home`