public class VersCheck { public static void main(String[] args) { String vers = System.getProperty("java.version"); vers = vers.substring(0,vers.indexOf('.')) + "." + //some String fiddling to get the version number into a usable form vers.substring(vers.indexOf('.')+1,vers.lastIndexOf('.')); if(Double.parseDouble(vers) >= 1.5){ System.out.println("YAY!"); }else{ System.err.println("Must use Java >=1.5"); } } }