What is the default scope of a method in Java?

Question

If I type:

 void doThis(){
     System.out.println("Hello Stackoverflow.");
 }

what is the default scope of doThis()?

Public? Protected? Private?

Esko Luontola · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-28T19:09:54.160

284

The default scope is package-private. All classes in the same package can access the method/field/class. Package-private is stricter than protected and public scopes, but more permissive than private scope.

More information:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/accesscontrol.html
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/scope.html

edited Mar 28 '12 at 19:09

answered Apr 03 '09 at 17:01

Esko Luontola

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"Package-default is stricter than..." – reinaldoluckman Aug 20 '11 at 17:47
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Might also be worth mentioning that "package-private" is a good scope to use when exposing methods for external unit testing. – Gary Feb 17 '12 at 16:19
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If this is the case, then why would it ever be necessary to make something public unless you were creating creating a library or anything from which users would be getting functionality for their code? – Daniel Aug 24 '15 at 21:51
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@user3858162 Most non-trivial applications are organized into multiple packages, in which case public scope is needed for calling calling methods from other packages. – Esko Luontola Sep 08 '15 at 13:10

score 20 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 03 '09 at 17:04

20

Anything defined as package private can be accessed by the class itself, other classes within the same package, but not outside of the package, and not by sub-classes.

See this page for a handy table of access level modifiers...

answered Apr 03 '09 at 17:04

user15299

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score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 03 '09 at 17:18

Without an access modifier, a class member is accessible throughout the package in which it's declared. You can learn more from the Java Language Specification, §6.6.

Members of an interface are always publicly accessible, whether explicitly declared or not.

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 03 '09 at 16:58

6

The default scope is "default". It's weird--see these references for more info.

answered Apr 03 '09 at 16:58

Michael Haren

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Actually it's not: it's package-private – Maurice Perry Apr 03 '09 at 17:00
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I can't delete my answer as it's been accepted. I encourage Joe to go with @Esko's answer! – Michael Haren Apr 03 '09 at 17:09
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the second link is broken (and btw it is easy to miss that those are two links) – 463035818_is_not_an_ai Jun 04 '18 at 10:15

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 08 '17 at 04:39

2

Java 8 now allows implementation of methods inside an interface itself with default scope (and static only).

answered Jul 08 '17 at 04:39

shiv

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered May 09 '12 at 12:02

If you are not giving any modifier to your method then as default it will be Default modifier which has scope within package.
for more info you can refer http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_default_access_specifier_in_Java

What is the default scope of a method in Java?

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