I went through this ritual almost every time:

    $ java --version
    Unrecognized option: --version
    $ java -v
    Unrecognized option: -v
    $ java -version
    openjdk version "1.8.0_312"

Looks like this was fixed in JDK 11.

But Java isn't as sadistic as Go lang:

    $ go --version
    [scrolls off screen]
    $ go --version | less
    [scrolls off screen]
    $ go --version 2>&1 | less
    [search for 'version' command]
    $ go version
    go version go1.17.2 linux/amd64