All you need to run BeanShell is the Java runtime system (Version 1.1 or greater) and the bsh JAR file. Under Windows, you can launch a graphical desktop for BeanShell by simply double-clicking the JAR file icon. More generally, you can add the JAR to your classpath: 

 Unix: export CLASSPATH=$CLASSPATH:bsh.jar
 Windows: set classpath %classpath%;bsh.jar

You can then run BeanShell interactively in either a GUI or command-line mode: 

 java bsh.Console // run the graphical desktop
 java bsh.Interpreter // run as text-only on the command line

Running BeanShell with the GUI console brings up a simple, Swing-based, desktop that allows you to open multiple shell windows with basic command history, line editing, and cut-and-paste capability. There are some other GUI tools available as well, including a simple text editor and class browser. Alternately, you can run BeanShell on the command line, in text-only mode. You can run BeanShell scripts from files, like so: 

 % java bsh.Interpreter myfile.bsh

Within some versions of the NetBeans and Sun Java Studio IDEs, you can create BeanShell script files using the New File wizard or run any file with a .bsh extension just as you would execute Java code.