Java Separators

Understanding and utilizing separators correctly are two essential components of writing Java code that is effective and readable. Different elements of a Java program are separated by separators, which are symbols or characters. Variables, statements, expressions, and method calls are examples of these components.

We will examine the various separators in Java and give examples of their use to enhance the readability and functionality of Java code in this blog post. Understanding separators is a crucial part of writing high-quality code that is simple to read, understand, and maintain, whether you are a novice or seasoned Java developer.

In Java, there are a few characters that are used as separators. The most commonly used separator in Java is the semicolon (;). As you have seen, it is used to terminate the statements.

The separators are listed in the following table:

Symbol Name Description
( ) Parentheses Used to contain the lists of parameters in method definition and invocation. Also used for defining the precedence in expressions, containing expressions in control statements, and surrounding cast types.
{ } Braces Used to contain the values of automatically initialized arrays. Also used to define a block of code, for classes, methods, and local scopes.
[ ] Brackets Used to declare array types. Also used when dereferencing array values.
; Semicolon Terminates the statements
, Comma Separates consecutive identifiers in a variable declaration. Also used to chain statements together inside a for statement.
. Period Used to separate package names from subpackages and classes. Also used to separate a variable or method from a reference variable.
:: Colons Used to create a method or constructor reference (Added by JDK 8)

Java Separators Example

The following Java program contains some separators:

class JavaProgram
{
  public static void main(String args[])
  {
  
    // commas are used to separate the variable declarations
    int i, j=10, k=11;     // semicolon is used to indicate the end of the variable declaration statement
  
    for(i=0; i<j; i++)
    {
      System.out.println("I am " + i);    // semicolon is used to indicate the end of the println statement
    }      // curly braces are used to enclose the body of the for loop
    // parentheses are used to enclose the argument passed to the println method
    System.out.println(k + " is biggest here.");      // period is used to access the println method of the System.out object
  }     // curly braces are used to enclose the body of the main method
}

i, j, and k are the three integer variables that the program declares. Initial values for the variables j and k are 10 and 11, respectively. The program then enters a for loop that runs as long as i is less than j. The for loop initializes i to 0, increments i by 1 at the end of each iteration, and prints the value of i to the console using the println method of the System.out object.

After the for loop has finished, the program prints the value of k and a string "is biggest here" to the console using the println method of the System.out object.

The sample output of the above Java program is shown here:

java separators

Advantages of separators in Java

Disadvantages of separators in Java

Java Online Test


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