Initializing multiple variables to the same value in Java

user83643 picture user83643 · Jun 1, 2011 · Viewed 342.8k times · Source

I'm looking for a clean and efficient method of declaring multiple variables of the same type and of the same value. Right now I have:

String one = "", two = "", three = "" etc...

But I'm looking for something like:

String one,two,three = ""

Is this something that is possible to do in java? Keeping efficiency in mind.

Answer

Alfredo Osorio picture Alfredo Osorio · Jun 1, 2011
String one, two, three;
one = two = three = "";

This should work with immutable objects. It doesn't make any sense for mutable objects for example:

Person firstPerson, secondPerson, thirdPerson;
firstPerson = secondPerson = thirdPerson = new Person();

All the variables would be pointing to the same instance. Probably what you would need in that case is:

Person firstPerson = new Person();
Person secondPerson = new Person();
Person thirdPerson = new Person();

Or better yet use an array or a Collection.