Access Modifiers in Java

1. Private access modifier

2. Role of private constructor
3. Default access modifier
4. Protected access modifier
5. Public access modifier
6. Access Modifier with Method Overriding

There are two types of modifiers in Java: access modifiers and non-access
modifiers.

The access modifiers in Java specifies the accessibility or scope of a field, method,
constructor, or class. We can change the access level of fields, constructors, methods,
and class by applying the access modifier on it.

There are four types of Java access modifiers:

1. Private: The access level of a private modifier is only within the class. It cannot
be accessed from outside the class.
2. Default: The access level of a default modifier is only within the package. It
cannot be accessed from outside the package. If you do not specify any access
level, it will be the default.
3. Protected: The access level of a protected modifier is within the package and
outside the package through child class. If you do not make the child class, it
cannot be accessed from outside the package.
4. Public: The access level of a public modifier is everywhere. It can be accessed
from within the class, outside the class, within the package and outside the
package.

There are many non-access modifiers, such as static, abstract, synchronized, native,
volatile, transient, etc. Here, we are going to learn the access modifiers only.

Understanding Java Access Modifiers

Let's understand the access modifiers in Java by a simple table.
 Access Modifier within class within package outside package outside
by subclass only package

Private Y N N N

Default Y Y N N

Protected Y Y Y N

Public Y Y Y Y

1) Private
The private access modifier is accessible only within the class.

Simple example of private access modifier

In this example, we have created two classes A and Simple. A class contains private data
member and private method. We are accessing these private members from outside the
class, so there is a compile-time error.

1. class A{
2. private int data=40;
3. private void msg(){System.out.println("Hello java");}
4. }
5.
6. public class Simple{
7. public static void main(String args[]){
8. A obj=new A();
9. System.out.println(obj.data);//Compile Time Error
10. obj.msg();//Compile Time Error
11. }
12. }

Role of Private Constructor

If you make any class constructor private, you cannot create the instance of that class
from outside the class. For example:

1. class A{
2. private A(){}//private constructor
3. void msg(){System.out.println("Hello java");}
4. }
5. public class Simple{
6. public static void main(String args[]){
7. A obj=new A();//Compile Time Error
8. }
9. }

Note: A class cannot be private or protected except nested class.

2) Default
If you don't use any modifier, it is treated as default by default. The default modifier is
accessible only within package. It cannot be accessed from outside the package. It
provides more accessibility than private. But, it is more restrictive than protected, and
public.

Example of default access modifier

In this example, we have created two packages pack and mypack. We are accessing the
A class from outside its package, since A class is not public, so it cannot be accessed
from outside the package.

1. //save by A.java
2. package pack;
3. class A{
4. void msg(){System.out.println("Hello");}
5. }
1. //save by B.java
2. package mypack;
3. import pack.*;
4. class B{
5. public static void main(String args[]){
6. A obj = new A();//Compile Time Error
7. obj.msg();//Compile Time Error
8. }
9. }

In the above example, the scope of class A and its method msg() is default so it cannot
be accessed from outside the package.

3) Protected
The protected access modifier is accessible within package and outside the package
but through inheritance only.
 The protected access modifier can be applied on the data member, method and
constructor. It can't be applied on the class.

It provides more accessibility than the default modifer.

Example of protected access modifier

In this example, we have created the two packages pack and mypack. The A class of
pack package is public, so can be accessed from outside the package. But msg method
of this package is declared as protected, so it can be accessed from outside the class
only through inheritance.

1. //save by A.java
2. package pack;
3. public class A{
4. protected void msg(){System.out.println("Hello");}
5. }
1. //save by B.java
2. package mypack;
3. import pack.*;
4.
5. class B extends A{
6. public static void main(String args[]){
7. B obj = new B();
8. obj.msg();
9. }
10. }
Output:Hello

4) Public
The public access modifier is accessible everywhere. It has the widest scope among
all other modifiers.

Example of public access modifier

1. //save by A.java
2.
3. package pack;
4. public class A{
5. public void msg(){System.out.println("Hello");}
6. }
1. //save by B.java
2.
3. package mypack;
4. import pack.*;
5.
6. class B{
7. public static void main(String args[]){
8. A obj = new A();
9. obj.msg();
10. }
11. }
Output:Hello

Java Access Modifiers with Method Overriding

Method Overriding with Access Modifiers
There is Only one rule while doing Method overriding with Access modifiers i.e.

If you are overriding any method, overridden method (i.e. declared in subclass) must
not be more restrictive.

Access modifier restrictions in decreasing order:

 private
 default
 protected
 public

i.e. private is more restricted then default and default is more restricted than
protected and so on.
Example 1:
class A {
protected void method()
{
System.out.println("Hello");
}
}

public class B extends A {

// Compile Time Error

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

public static void main(String args[])

{
B b = new B();
b.method();
}
}
Output:
Compile Time Error

Note: In the above Example Superclass class A defined a method whose access
modifier is protected. While doing method overriding in SubClass Class B we didn’t
define any access modifier so Default access modifier will be used. By the
rule, Default is more restricted then Protected so this program will give compile
time error. Instead of default, we could’ve used public which is less
restricted then protected.
Example 2:
class A {
protected void method()
{
System.out.println("Hello");
}
}

public class B extends A {

public void method()
{
System.out.println("Hello");
}

public static void main(String args[])

{
B b = new B();
b.method();
}
}
Output:
Hello

Note: In the above Example Superclass class A defined a method whose access
modifier is protected. While doing method overriding in SubClass Class B we define
access modifier as Public. Because Public access modifier is less
restricted than Protected hence this program compiles successfully.