List of Java keywords
In the Java programming language, a keyword is one of 50 reserved words[1] that have a predefined meaning in the language; because of this, programmers cannot use keywords as names for variables, methods, classes, or as any other identifier.[2] Due to their special functions in the language, most integrated development environments for Java use syntax highlighting to display keywords in a different colour for easy identification.
List
assert
- Assert describes a predicate (a true–false statement) placed in a java-program to indicate that the developer thinks that the predicate is always true at that place. If an assertion evaluates to false at run-time, an assertion failure results, which typically causes execution to abort. Optionally enable by ClassLoader method.
boolean
- Defines a boolean variable for the values "true" or "false" only (NB: "null" as in class Boolean is not allowed).
break
- Used to end the execution in the current loop body.
byte
- Defines a byte variable representing a sequence of 8 bits. (NB: Only 1-byte-characters can be used, f.i. '€' would produce an error).
case
- A statement in the
switch
block can be labeled with one or morecase
ordefault
labels. Theswitch
statement evaluates its expression, then executes all statements that follow the matchingcase
label; seeswitch
.[3]
catch
- Used in conjunction with a
try
block and an optionalfinally
block. The statements in thecatch
block specify what to do if a specific type of exception is thrown by thetry
block.
char
- Defines a character variable capable of holding any character of the java source file's character set (NB: Physical storage may exceed one byte).
class
- A type that defines the implementation of a particular kind of object. A class definition defines instance and class fields, methods, and inner classes as well as specifying the interfaces the class implements and the immediate superclass of the class. If the superclass is not explicitly specified, the superclass is implicitly
Object
. The class keyword can also be used in the form Class.class to get a Class object without needing an instance of that class. For example, String.class can be used instead of doing new String().getClass().
const
- Although reserved as a keyword in Java,
const
is not used and has no function.[2][1] For defining constants in java, see thefinal
keyword.
continue
- Used to resume program execution at the end of the current loop body. If followed by a label,
continue
resumes execution at the end of the enclosing labeled loop body.
default
- The
default
keyword can optionally be used in a switch statement to label a block of statements to be executed if nocase
matches the specified value; seeswitch
.[3][4] Alternatively, the default keyword can also be used to declare default values in a Java annotation. From Java 8 onwards, the default keyword is also used to specify that a method in an interface provides the default implementation of a method.
do
- The
do
keyword is used in conjunction withwhile
to create a do-while loop, which executes a block of statements associated with the loop and then tests a boolean expression associated with thewhile
. If the expression evaluates totrue
, the block is executed again; this continues until the expression evaluates tofalse
.[5][6]
double
- The
double
keyword is used to declare a variable that can hold a 64-bit double precision IEEE 754 floating-point number.[7][8] This keyword is also used to declare that a method returns a value of the primitive typedouble
.[9][10]
else
- The
else
keyword is used in conjunction withif
to create an if-else statement, which tests a boolean expression; if the expression evaluates totrue
, the block of statements associated with theif
are evaluated; if it evaluates tofalse
, the block of statements associated with theelse
are evaluated.[11][12]
enum
(as of J2SE 5.0)- A Java keyword used to declare an enumerated type. Enumerations extend the base class
Enum
.
extends
- Used in a class declaration to specify the superclass; used in an interface declaration to specify one or more superinterfaces. Class X extends class Y to add functionality, either by adding fields or methods to class Y, or by overriding methods of class Y. An interface Z extends one or more interfaces by adding methods. Class X is said to be a subclass of class Y; Interface Z is said to be a subinterface of the interfaces it extends.
- Also used to specify an upper bound on a type parameter in Generics.
final
- Define an entity once that cannot be changed nor derived from later. More specifically: a final class cannot be subclassed, a final method cannot be overridden, and a final variable can occur at most once as a left-hand expression on an executed command. All methods in a final class are implicitly
final
.
finally
- Used to define a block of statements for a block defined previously by the
try
keyword. Thefinally
block is executed after execution exits thetry
block and any associatedcatch
clauses regardless of whether an exception was thrown or caught, or execution left method in the middle of thetry
orcatch
blocks using thereturn
keyword.
float
- The
float
keyword is used to declare a variable that can hold a 32-bit single precision IEEE 754 floating-point number.[7][8] This keyword is also used to declare that a method returns a value of the primitive typefloat
.[9][10]
for
- The
for
keyword is used to create a for loop, which specifies a variable initialization, a boolean expression, and an incrementation. The variable initialization is performed first, and then the boolean expression is evaluated. If the expression evaluates totrue
, the block of statements associated with the loop are executed, and then the incrementation is performed. The boolean expression is then evaluated again; this continues until the expression evaluates tofalse
.[13]
- As of J2SE 5.0, the
for
keyword can also be used to create a so-called "enhanced for loop",[14] which specifies an array orIterable
object; each iteration of the loop executes the associated block of statements using a different element in the array orIterable
.[13]
if
- The
if
keyword is used to create an if statement, which tests a boolean expression; if the expression evaluates totrue
, the block of statements associated with the if statement is executed. This keyword can also be used to create an if-else statement; seeelse
.[11][12]
implements
- Included in a class declaration to specify one or more interfaces that are implemented by the current class. A class inherits the types and abstract methods declared by the interfaces.
import
- Used at the beginning of a source file to specify classes or entire Java packages to be referred to later without including their package names in the reference. Since J2SE 5.0,
import
statements can importstatic
members of a class.
instanceof
- A binary operator that takes an object reference as its first operand and a class or interface as its second operand and produces a boolean result. The
instanceof
operator evaluates to true if and only if the runtime type of the object is assignment compatible with the class or interface.
int
- The
int
keyword is used to declare a variable that can hold a 32-bit signed two's complement integer.[7][8] This keyword is also used to declare that a method returns a value of the primitive typeint
.[9][10]
interface
- Used to declare a special type of class that only contains abstract or default methods, constant (
static final
) fields andstatic
interfaces. It can later be implemented by classes that declare the interface with theimplements
keyword.
long
- The
long
keyword is used to declare a variable that can hold a 64-bit signed two's complement integer.[7][8] This keyword is also used to declare that a method returns a value of the primitive typelong
.[9][10]
native
- Used in method declarations to specify that the method is not implemented in the same Java source file, but rather in another language.[10]
new
- Used to create an instance of a class or array object. Using keyword for this end is not completely necessary (as exemplified by Scala), though it serves two purposes: it enables the existence of different namespace for methods and class names, it defines statically and locally that a fresh object is indeed created, and of what runtime type it is (arguably introducing dependency into the code).
package
- A group of types. Packages are declared with the
package
keyword.
private
- The
private
keyword is used in the declaration of a method, field, or inner class; private members can only be accessed by other members of their own class.[15]
protected
- The
protected
keyword is used in the declaration of a method, field, or inner class; protected members can only be accessed by members of their own class, that class's subclasses or classes from the same package.[15]
public
- The
public
keyword is used in the declaration of a class, method, or field; public classes, methods, and fields can be accessed by the members of any class.[15]
return
- Used to finish the execution of a method. It can be followed by a value required by the method definition that is returned to the caller.
short
- The
short
keyword is used to declare a field that can hold a 16-bit signed two's complement integer.[7][8] This keyword is also used to declare that a method returns a value of the primitive typeshort
.[9][10]
static
- Used to declare a field, method, or inner class as a class field. Classes maintain one copy of class fields regardless of how many instances exist of that class.
static
also is used to define a method as a class method. Class methods are bound to the class instead of to a specific instance, and can only operate on class fields. (Classes and interfaces declared asstatic
members of another class or interface are actually top-level classes and are not inner classes.)
strictfp
(as of J2SE 1.2)- A Java keyword used to restrict the precision and rounding of floating point calculations to ensure portability.[10]
super
- Used to access members of a class inherited by the class in which it appears. Allows a subclass to access overridden methods and hidden members of its superclass. The
super
keyword is also used to forward a call from a constructor to a constructor in the superclass. - Also used to specify a lower bound on a type parameter in Generics.
switch
- The
switch
keyword is used in conjunction withcase
anddefault
to create a switch statement, which evaluates a variable, matches its value to a specificcase
, and executes the block of statements associated with thatcase
. If nocase
matches the value, the optional block labelled bydefault
is executed, if included.[3][4]
synchronized
- Used in the declaration of a method or code block to acquire the mutex lock for an object while the current thread executes the code.[10] For static methods, the object locked is the class's
Class
. Guarantees that at most one thread at a time operating on the same object executes that code. The mutex lock is automatically released when execution exits the synchronized code. Fields, classes and interfaces cannot be declared as synchronized.
this
- Used to represent an instance of the class in which it appears.
this
can be used to access class members and as a reference to the current instance. Thethis
keyword is also used to forward a call from one constructor in a class to another constructor in the same class.
throw
- Causes the declared exception instance to be thrown. This causes execution to continue with the first enclosing exception handler declared by the
catch
keyword to handle an assignment compatible exception type. If no such exception handler is found in the current method, then the method returns and the process is repeated in the calling method. If no exception handler is found in any method call on the stack, then the exception is passed to the thread's uncaught exception handler.
throws
- Used in method declarations to specify which exceptions are not handled within the method but rather passed to the next higher level of the program. All uncaught exceptions in a method that are not instances of
RuntimeException
must be declared using thethrows
keyword.
transient
- Declares that an instance field is not part of the default serialized form of an object. When an object is serialized, only the values of its non-transient instance fields are included in the default serial representation. When an object is deserialized, transient fields are initialized only to their default value. If the default form is not used, e.g. when a serialPersistentFields table is declared in the class hierarchy, all
transient
keywords are ignored.[16][17]
try
- Defines a block of statements that have exception handling. If an exception is thrown inside the
try
block, an optionalcatch
block can handle declared exception types. Also, an optionalfinally
block can be declared that will be executed when execution exits thetry
block andcatch
clauses, regardless of whether an exception is thrown or not. Atry
block must have at least onecatch
clause or afinally
block.
volatile
- Used in field declarations to specify that the variable is modified asynchronously by concurrently running threads. Methods, classes and interfaces thus cannot be declared volatile, nor can local variables or parameters.
while
- The
while
keyword is used to create a while loop, which tests a boolean expression and executes the block of statements associated with the loop if the expression evaluates totrue
; this continues until the expression evaluates tofalse
. This keyword can also be used to create a do-while loop; seedo
.[5][6]
Reserved words for literal values
false
- A boolean literal value.
null
- A reference literal value.
true
- A boolean literal value.
See also
Notes
- 1 2 3 Flanagan 2005, p. 20.
- 1 2 3 "Java Language Specification - Section 3.9: Keywords". The Java Language Specification. Oracle. February 13, 2012. Retrieved 2015-05-15.
- 1 2 3 "The switch Statement". The Java Tutorials. Sun Microsystems, Inc. February 14, 2008. Retrieved 2014-12-18.
- 1 2 Flanagan 2005, pp. 46-48.
- 1 2 "The while and do-while Statements". The Java Tutorials. Sun Microsystems, Inc. February 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
- 1 2 Flanagan 2005, pp. 48-49.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Primitive Data Types". The Java Tutorials. Sun Microsystems, Inc. February 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Flanagan 2005, p. 22.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Returning a Value from a Method". The Java Tutorials. Sun Microsystems, Inc. February 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Flanagan 2005, pp. 66-67.
- 1 2 "The if-then and if-then-else Statements". The Java Tutorials. Sun Microsystems, Inc. February 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
- 1 2 Flanagan 2005, pp. 44-46.
- 1 2 "The for Statement". The Java Tutorials. Sun Microsystems, Inc. February 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
- ↑ Flanagan 2005, pp. 50-54.
- 1 2 3 "Controlling Access to Members of a Class". The Java Tutorials. Sun Microsystems, Inc. February 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
- ↑ "Java Object Serialization Specification version 1.5.0". Sun/Oracle. 2004. 1.5 Defining Serializable Fields for a Class. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
- ↑ Grosso, William (November 21, 2001). "Java RMI: Serialization". ONJava. O'Reilly Media. Declaring serialPersistentFields. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
References
- Gosling, James; Joy, Bill; Steele, Guy; Bracha, Gilad (June 2005). Java Language Specification (Third ed.). Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 978-0-321-24678-3. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
- Flanagan, David (March 2005). Java in a Nutshell (Fifth ed.). O'Reilly Media. ISBN 978-0-596-00773-7. Retrieved 2010-03-03.
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