What do 3 dots next to a parameter type mean in Java?

java variadic-functions
Vikram picture Vikram · Jul 1, 2010 · Viewed 400.8k times · Source

What do the 3 dots following String in the following method mean?

public void myMethod(String... strings){
    // method body
}

Answer

kiswa picture kiswa · Jul 1, 2010

It means that zero or more String objects (or a single array of them) may be passed as the argument(s) for that method.

See the "Arbitrary Number of Arguments" section here: http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/javaOO/arguments.html#varargs

In your example, you could call it as any of the following:

myMethod(); // Likely useless, but possible
myMethod("one", "two", "three");
myMethod("solo");
myMethod(new String[]{"a", "b", "c"});

Important Note: The argument(s) passed in this way is always an array - even if there's just one. Make sure you treat it that way in the method body.

Important Note 2: The argument that gets the ... must be the last in the method signature. So, myMethod(int i, String... strings) is okay, but myMethod(String... strings, int i) is not okay.

Thanks to Vash for the clarifications in his comment.

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