Assuming one has installed a JDK in /opt/java/jdk1.8.0_144 then:

1. Install the alternative for javac

   $ sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/javac javac /opt/java/jdk1.8.0_144/bin/javac 1
   

2. Check / update the alternatives config:

   $ sudo update-alternatives --config javac
   

If there is only a single alternative for javac you will get a message saying so, otherwise select the option for the new JDK.

To check everything is setup correctly then:

$ which javac
/usr/bin/javac

$ ls -l /usr/bin/javac
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 Sep  4 17:10 /usr/bin/javac -> /etc/alternatives/javac

$ ls -l /etc/alternatives/javac
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 Sep  4 17:10 /etc/alternatives/javac -> /opt/java/jdk1.8.0_144/bin/javac

And finally

$ javac -version
javac 1.8.0_144

Repeat for java, keytool, jar, etc as needed.

sudo update-alternatives --config java

Configures the default for the program "java". That's the Java VM.

sudo update-alternatives --config javac

Configures the default Java compiler.

You can also see that, because the first command lists a lot of "JRE" (Java Runtime Environment) folders and the Program is just called "java".

If I check which version is being used by issuing the command java -version or javac -version, I can see, that each command changes the program being used.

However, using update-java-alternatives with a JDK Version changes both programs for me. Using the first commands, you can use a Java VM and Java Compiler from different JDKs.

update-java-alternatives requires presence of a file with extension .jinfo in directory /usr/lib/jvm. The openjdk package is shipped with a .jinfo file, the jdk of Oracle (formerly Sun) is not. As alternative, you configure alternatives without update-java-alternatives:

For example, to add java from jvm-directory /usr/lib/jvm/jdk-12.0.1 (default directory of Debian package of Oracle) with priority 2082, use the following command:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /usr/lib/jvm/jdk-12.0.1/bin/java 2082

As for switching for different development environments:

Are you talking about starting the IDE itself with different Java versions or using different versions in the IDE for compilation and running your app?

• For 1.: You can specify which JVM to use in the eclipse.ini, as described here. I don't know how to do that for the Arduino IDE.

• For 2.: In Eclipse you can select the JRE/JDK to be used in Window -> Preferences -> Java -> Installed JREs. And under Java -> Compiler you could choose an older Java compliance if you wish.

EDIT: This DigitalOcean page also has a very nice explanation of everything related to Java on Ubuntu.

Thast's because you have altered IFS variable to use ':'

so when its output your variable its replaced with default output field separator which is 'space' thinking that ':' is input field separator .

you have take backup of it before using IFS like below :

OIFS=$IFS
IFS=':';

after 'for' loop is done , restore it :

IFS=$OIFS

Also remove the ':' which starts with no path preceding that

PATH=${PATH#:*}    

Your script should be like :

#!/bin/bash

export JAVA_HOME=$(dirname $(dirname `readlink -f /etc/alternatives/java`))

OIFS=$IFS
IFS=':';
for i in $PATH;
do
        JAVA1=$i/bin/java
        JAVA2=$i/java
        if [ -d "$i" ];
        then
                if [ ! -L "$JAVA1" ] && [ -x "$JAVA1" ] || [ ! -L "$JAVA2" ] && [ -x "$JAVA2" ];
                then
                        echo "dropping path: $i";
                else
                        NEW=$NEW:$i
                fi
        fi
done
IFS=$OIFS
PATH=$NEW:$JAVA_HOME/bin
PATH=${PATH#:*}
echo 
echo "Final:"
echo $PATH

Basically it says to your machine to use this alternative of Jave JDK instead of the default one, which, in Linux systems, is OpenJDK.

A brief extract from the man page is better than any answer I could write:

update-alternatives creates, removes, maintains and displays information about the symbolic links comprising the Debian alternatives system.

It is possible for several programs fulfilling the same or similar functions to be installed on a single system at the same time. For example, many systems have several text editors installed at once. This gives choice to the users of a system, allowing each to use a different editor, if desired, but makes it difficult for a program to make a good choice for an editor to invoke if the user has not specified a particular preference.

Debian's alternatives system aims to solve this problem. A generic name in the filesystem is shared by all files providing interchangeable functionality. The alternatives system and the system administrator together determine which actual file is referenced by this generic name. For example, if the text editors ed(1) and nvi(1) are both installed on the system, the alternatives system will cause the generic name /usr/bin/editor to refer to /usr/bin/nvi by default. The system administrator can override this and cause it to refer to /usr/bin/ed instead, and the alternatives system will not alter this setting until explicitly requested to do so.

With --install you specified a link, "/usr/bin/java" a name "java" and a path "/usr/lib/java/JDK...." and you add a group of alternatives to the system. link is the generic name for the master link, name is the name of its symlink in the alternatives directory, and path is the alternative being introduced for the master link.

I hope to be clear enough, Here there is a post regarding java alternatives.

For the complete usage list I suggest to look at the same manual page, typing man update-alternatives on your OS shell;