Dealing with Java 8 and 7 in the same Environment.

snippet_from_dot_zshrc.sh

# snippet from my ~/.zshrc file.

export JAVA7_HOME="$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.7)"

function with-jdk7
{
  export JAVA_HOME="$JAVA7_HOME"
  echo "$@"
  $@
}

export JAVA8_HOME="$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8)"

function with-jdk8
{
  export JAVA_HOME="$JAVA8_HOME"
  echo "$@"
  $@
}

# now you can do..
# $ width-jdk7 scala
# $ width-jdk7 spark-shell

export JAVA7_HOME=/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.7

@cfieber why am I just reading your comment... I was not aware of that trick! Thank you!