Immutable Class in Java

In this tutorial, we will discuss what is an immutable class in Java, what is immutability in Java, and a list of immutable classes in Java?

What is immutability in Java? Once we create an object then we can’t perform any changes on that object. If we are trying to perform any changes, and if there will be a change in the content then with those changes a new object will be created. If there is no change in the content then the exiting object will be reused. This behavior is nothing but immutability.

What is an immutable class in Java? A class, whose objects are immutable in nature is called an immutable class. It means we can’t perform any changes on the object of an immutable class. For every modification, if there is a change in the content then a new object will be created.

Let us understand it through an example. In Java, String is an immutable class. Therefore, its objects are immutable objects, once a String object is created then we can’t perform any changes on that object.

public class Test {

   public static void main(String[] args) {
      String s1 = "Know Program";
      System.out.println(System.identityHashCode(s1));
      System.out.println(s1);
      
      s1 = s1.concat(" - Java Tutorial");
      System.out.println(System.identityHashCode(s1));
      System.out.println(s1);
   }

}

Output:-

517938326
Know Program
1100439041
Know Program – Java Tutorial

Let us understand it through another example,

public class Test {

   public static void main(String[] args) {
      String s1 = "java";
      System.out.println(System.identityHashCode(s1));
      
      String s2 = s1.toUpperCase();
      System.out.println(System.identityHashCode(s2));
      
      System.out.println(s1 == s2);
   }

}

Output:-

358699161
2143192188
false

Here, one String object is created with content “java”, and assigned to reference variable s1. After calling the toUpperCase() method its content will be “JAVA” and it is different from the current object’s content (“java”) therefore due to its immutability nature another String object will be created and assigned to the reference variable s2. Because of this reason, both s1 and s2 objects contain different references.

public class Test {

   public static void main(String[] args) {
      String s1 = "java";
      System.out.println(System.identityHashCode(s1));
      
      String s3 = s1.toLowerCase();
      System.out.println(System.identityHashCode(s3));
      
      System.out.println(s1 == s3);
   }

}

Output:-

517938326
517938326
true

In this example, the String object is created with content “java” and assigned to the reference variables s1. After calling the toLowerCase() method its content will be “java” which is similar to the current object’s content (“java”) therefore the current object will be re-used and assigned to the reference variable s2. A new string object will not be created. Hence we are getting similar hashcode values for them.

If it a mutable class then after any operation we will get similar hashcode because in that case, a new object will not be created. For example, StringBuilder is a mutable class, and after appending its object we will get the same hashcode value.

List of Immutable Classes in Java

In Java following classes are Immutable classes:-

• String class:- We have already seen the example.
• java.io.File:- It represents an object external to the virtual machine i.e. a file on the local system, which may or may not exist, and has some methods modifying and querying the state of this external object. But the File object itself stays immutable. Except java.to.File all other classes in java.io are mutable classes.
• All Wrapper classes for the primitive types:- java.lang.Byte, java.lang.Short, java.lang.Integer, java.lang.Long, java.lang.Double, java.lang.Float, java.lang.Character, java.lang.Boolean.
• All classes of java.time except DateTimeException is immutable. Most of the classes of the sub-packages of java.time are immutable too.
• Most subclasses of java.security.Permission (representing permissions needed for some action or given to some code), but not java.security.PermissionCollection and subclasses.

There are more immutable classes in Java, but these are the popular Java class. See more here.

Types of immutable class in Java

We can categorize immutable class in Java into two types:-

1) Immutable classes which allow modification. In these classes, after modification, if the content is different then a new object will be created. Else the same object will be reused. Example:- String class.

String s1 = "Know Program";
s1 = s1.concat(" - Java Tutorial");

String class allow modification, and generated content is different than it will store results in another String object.

2) Immutable classes which don’t allow modification. Example:- All Wrapper classes for the primitive types, and java.io.File class.

Integer io = 10;

In wrapper classes for the primitive types, we don’t have any method to perform modification operations on the objects.

File f1 = new File("data.txt");

Similar to wrapper classes, the File class also doesn’t provide any method to perform modification operations on the File class objects.

Recommended articles:-

• What is Mutable in Java?
• Mutable vs immutable.
• Why string is Immutable in java?
• How to create immutable class in Java?

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