What is ?. operator in java?

Question

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Java “?” Operator for checking null - What is it? (Not Ternary!)
Java Null-pointer-safe accessor

Recently I read in one of the java forums about ?. operator. They wrote that ?. could not make it to the java 7. Can anybody explain what exactly ?. is?

Also, I like to know if this operator has any specific name or not like ?: is known as ternary operator.

This is dealt with by http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4390141/java-operator-for-checking-null-what-is-it-not-ternary. — sjr, Jun 12 '12 at 14:55
Ok. You may proceed for the same. I don't have sufficient privileges for the same :-) — verisimilitude, Jun 12 '12 at 14:58
I thought that it would be already present on SO. I searched with **?. operator** as keyword . Then why didn't SO show me these questions in search results? — Priyank Doshi, Jun 12 '12 at 14:59
Because searching for `?.` probably doesn't resgister in the search engine. — SimplyPanda, Jun 12 '12 at 15:04

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 12 '12 at 14:55

1

It's called the Null-safe operator.

answered Jun 12 '12 at 14:55

helpermethod

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 12 '12 at 14:57

I believe you mean the Null-safe operator, explained here. It was under consideration for Java 7, but subsequently dropped.

The other common use for the ? in Java is the ternary operator, which has been in Java since the dark ages and is explained here.

The two are completely different features however, the only common element is that they use the ? in some way.

What is ?. operator in java?

2 Answers2