Q:

Java application command-line start

"java -cp . name" - string to put it in command-line.
What is -cp in this string? Google just does not want to search it.

A:

It's the classpath:

-classpath classpath
-cp classpath
Specify a list of directories, JAR archives, and ZIP archives to search for class files. Class path entries are separated by semicolons (;). Specifying -classpath or -cp overrides any setting of the CLASSPATH environment variable.
If -classpath and -cp are not used and CLASSPATH is not set, the user class path consists of the current directory (.).
For more information on class paths, see Setting the Class Path.

From http://download.oracle.com/javase/1.4.2/docs/tooldocs/windows/java.html
A single full-stop means the current working directory - so in your above call, it's setting the classpath as such.

A:

-cp is a synonym for -classpath.  The Classpath tells the JVM where to find the .class files containing the code it needs to run.  It is a list of directories and/or JAR files.
So in your example -cp . is setting the Classpath to contain just the current working directory.

