Literals

In Java, literals are specific values that are directly used in the code, and they represent constant values. Java literals can be categorized into several types based on the kind of data they represent. Here’s a breakdown of the different types of literals in Java:

1. Integer Literals

These are whole numbers without any fractional or decimal part. Integer literals can be represented in various numeral systems:

  • Decimal (base 10): e.g., 123, 0, -456
  • Hexadecimal (base 16): prefixed with 0x or 0X, e.g., 0x7F, 0xFF, 0xA
  • Octal (base 8): prefixed with 0, e.g., 075, 012
  • Binary (base 2): prefixed with 0b or 0B, e.g., 0b1010, 0b1100

2. Floating-Point Literals

These represent numbers with a fractional part and are of type float or double. They can be expressed in:

  • Decimal notation: e.g., 3.14, 0.0, -2.71828
  • Scientific notation: using e or E to denote powers of 10, e.g., 1.23e4 (which is 1.23 × 10^4), 2.5E-3 (which is 2.5 × 10^-3)

3. Character Literals

These represent single characters and are enclosed in single quotes. Examples include:

  • 'a', 'A', '9', '$', '\n' (newline), '\u0041' (Unicode representation of ‘A’)

4. String Literals

These represent sequences of characters and are enclosed in double quotes. Examples include:

  • "Hello, World!", "123", "" (an empty string)

5. Boolean Literals

These represent the boolean values and are true or false.

6. Null Literal

The null literal represents a null reference and is used to indicate that a variable does not point to any object or value.

Each type of literal serves a specific purpose and helps in representing and manipulating data in Java programs.


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