20 Jul Java Enums

We studied some types of Java. However, there is another type of Java called Enums. Enums, stand for enumerations i.e., a group of constants. Use enums to name constants.

We use the enum keyword to create an enum. Let us see the syntax:

enum enum_name {
  enum_item1,
  enum_item2,
  enum_item3,
  .
  .
  .
  enum_itemn
}

Above, we have the enum name after the enum keyword. Then comes the enum items i.e., constants separated by comma.

Create an Enum

Let us now see how to create an enum. We will consider Directions and enum items as NORTH, SOUTH, etc:

enum Directions {
  NORTH,
  SOUTH,
  EAST,
  WEST
}

Create an Enum Variable

Create a variable of the Enum if you want to access it. Let us create a variable of the above enum:

Directions d1;

Assign a value to the enum variable

Access enum constants/ items with dot. Let us now assign value to an enum item and display:

// Create an Enum variable and assign value
Directions d1 = Directions.NORTH; 
    
System.out.println(d1);

Create an Enum inside a class

Let us see an example of creating an enum inside a class:

class Studyopedia { 
   enum Directions {
    NORTH,
    SOUTH,
    EAST,
    WEST
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) { 
    // Enum variables
    Directions d1, d2, d3, d4;
    
    // Assign valuee to Enum variables
    d1 = Directions.NORTH; 
    d2 = Directions.SOUTH;
    d3 = Directions.EAST; 
    d4 = Directions.WEST;
    
    // Display
    System.out.println(d1); 
    System.out.println(d2); 
    System.out.println(d3); 
    System.out.println(d4); 
  } 
}

Output

NORTH
SOUTH
EAST
WEST

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