java.lang.annotation

Enum RetentionPolicy

  • All Implemented Interfaces:
    Serializable, Comparable<RetentionPolicy> 

    public enum RetentionPolicy
extends Enum<RetentionPolicy>
    Annotation retention policy. The constants of this enumerated type describe the various policies for retaining annotations. They are used in conjunction with the Retention meta-annotation type to specify how long annotations are to be retained.
    Since:
    1.5

    • Enum Constant Detail

      • SOURCE

        public static final RetentionPolicy SOURCE
        Annotations are to be discarded by the compiler.

      • CLASS

        public static final RetentionPolicy CLASS
        Annotations are to be recorded in the class file by the compiler but need not be retained by the VM at run time. This is the default behavior.

      • RUNTIME

        public static final RetentionPolicy RUNTIME
        Annotations are to be recorded in the class file by the compiler and retained by the VM at run time, so they may be read reflectively.
        See Also:
        AnnotatedElement

    • Method Detail

      • values

        public static RetentionPolicy[] values()
        Returns an array containing the constants of this enum type, in the order they are declared. This method may be used to iterate over the constants as follows: 
        for (RetentionPolicy c : RetentionPolicy.values())
    System.out.println(c);
        Returns:
        an array containing the constants of this enum type, in the order they are declared

      • valueOf

        public static RetentionPolicy valueOf(String name)
        Returns the enum constant of this type with the specified name. The string must match exactly an identifier used to declare an enum constant in this type. (Extraneous whitespace characters are not permitted.)
        Parameters:
        name - the name of the enum constant to be returned.
        Returns:
        the enum constant with the specified name
        Throws:
        IllegalArgumentException - if this enum type has no constant with the specified name
        NullPointerException - if the argument is null