What is the importance of Runtime class in Java?

The java.lang.Runtime class is a subclass of Object class, can provide access to various information about the environment in which a program is running. The Java run-time environment creates a single instance of this class that is associated with a program. The Runtime class does not have any public constructors, so a program cannot create its own instances of the class. A program must call the getRuntime() method to get a reference to the current Runtime object. The important methods of Runtime class are addShutdownHook(), exec(), exit(), freeMemory(), gc(), halt() and load().

Syntax

public class Runtime extends Object

Example

public class RuntimeTest {
   static class Message extends Thread {
      public void run() {
         System.out.println(" Exit");
      }
   }
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      try {
         Runtime.getRuntime().addShutdownHook(new Message());
         System.out.println(" Program Started...");
         System.out.println(" Wait for 5 seconds...");
         Thread.sleep(5000);
         System.out.println(" Program Ended...");
      } catch(Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }
}

Output

Program Started...
Wait for 5 seconds...
Program Ended...
Exit