Access Modifiers in java
Access Modifiers or Specifiers deals with the visibility or scope of variable,
class, method.
There are two types of modifiers in java: access modifiers and non-access modifiers.
The access modifiers in java specify accessibility (scope) of a data member, method,
constructor or class.
There are 4 types of java access modifiers:
1. private
2. default
3. protected
4. public
There are many non-access modifiers such as static, abstract, synchronized, native,
volatile, transient etc. Here, we will learn access modifiers.
1) Private access modifier
The private access modifier is accessible only within class.
Simple example of private access modifier
In this example, we have created two classes A and Simple. A class contains private
data member and private method. We are accessing these private members from
outside the class, so there is compile time error.
class A
{
private int data=40;
private void msg()
{
System.out.println("Hello java");
}
}
public class Simple
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
A obj=new A();
System.out.println(obj.data);//Compile Time Error
obj.msg();//Compile Time Error
}
}
Note: A class cannot be private or protected except nested class.
2) Default access modifier
If you don't use any modifier, it is treated as default by default. The default modifier is
accessible only within package.
Example of default access modifier
In this example, we have created two packages pack and mypack. We are accessing the
A class from outside its package, since A class is not public, so it cannot be accessed
from outside the package.
//save by A.java
package pack;
class A
void msg()
System.out.println("Hello");
}
//save by B.java
package mypack;
import pack.*;
class B
public static void main(String args[])
{
A obj = new A();//Compile Time Error
obj.msg();//Compile Time Error
}
}
In the above example, the scope of class A and its method msg() is default so it cannot
be accessed from outside the package.
3) Protected access modifier
The protected access modifier is accessible within package and outside the package but
through inheritance only. The protected access modifier can be applied on the data
member, method and constructor. It can't be applied on the class.
In this example, we have created the two packages pack and mypack. The A class of
pack package is public, so can be accessed from outside the package. But msg method of
this package is declared as protected, so it can be accessed from outside the class only
through inheritance.
//save by A.java
package pack;
public class A
{
protected void msg()
{
System.out.println("Hello");
}
}
//save by B.java
package mypack;
import pack.*;
class B extends A
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
B obj = new B();
obj.msg();
}
}
Output: Hello
4) public access modifier
The public access modifier is accessible everywhere. It has the widest scope among all
other modifiers.
Example of public access modifier
//save by A.java
package pack;
public class A
{
public void msg()
{
System.out.println("Hello");
}
}
//save by B.java
package mypack;
import pack.*;
class B
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
A obj = new A();
obj.msg();
}
}
Output: Hello
Understanding all java access modifiers
Let's understand the access modifiers by a simple table.
Access within within outside package by
outside package
Modifier class package subclass only
Private Y N N N
Default Y Y N N
Protected Y Y Y N
Public Y Y Y Y
