Java Fully Qualified Class name, running from Terminal -

please excuse confusion, have searched topic on stack overflow not understand answers. green. using eclipse create first java program, compiles , runs successfully.

    package com.java24hours;  class saluton {     public static void main (string[] arguments) {         //my first java program goes here         string greeting = "saluton mondo!";         system.out.println(greeting);     } } 

so trying run in terminal on mac. file path have /users/admin/documents/java/java24/com/java24hours

i try run in java24hours directory "java saluton.java" , return "error: not find or load main class saluton.java"

it understanding has package. have researched package names not understand how qualified name works classes , packages.

while compiles in ide, make compile in terminal , understand why did not compile way wanted to.

thank patience.

you missing several elements.

one answer , comment pointed out haven't compiled source code yet, produce class file. that's absolutely correct. eclipse on own, , puts class files in "bin" directory, although i'm not sure parent folder be, perhaps "/users/admin/documents/java".

to compile , execute classes command line, outside of eclipse, it's best have "build script" builds class files , optionally runs classes. utilize "gradle" or "maven", or perhaps "ant" (in decreasing order of preference).

in case, when execute class command line, have tell java process "classpath" use, , name of "fully-qualified" class name execute.

so, if had class files written in "/users/admin/documents/java/bin" directory, might running "/users/admin/documents/java" directory, , execute following:

java -cp bin com.java24hours.saluton