valid java identifiers

[kulangotski]

hi just want to ask some questions about naming variables in java, we were given some questions that are for me are a bit tricky and I don't seem to understands why these are illegal identifiers

int :b; // totally clueless with this one
int -d; // maybe because it start with an operator?
int e#; // what is the symbol used for anyway?
int .f; // why is this illegal?
int 7g; // this is obvious

please do give me some info on these things.. thanks! :D

[JosAH]

hi just want to ask some questions about naming variables in java, we were given some questions that are for me are a bit tricky and I don't seem to understands why these are illegal identifiers

int :b; // totally clueless with this one
int -d; // maybe because it start with an operator?
int e#; // what is the symbol used for anyway?
int .f; // why is this illegal?
int 7g; // this is obvious

please do give me some info on these things.. thanks! :D

None of the above are valid identifier names:

1) starts with a colon
2) starts with a minus sign
3) ends with a cross hatch
4) starts with a dot
5) starts with a digit.

Also have a look at the Character class; it has static methods for the recognition of characters that can be part of an identier name.

kind regards,

Jos

[Iron Lion]

Variables (The Java™ Tutorials > Learning the Java Language > Language Basics)

The first character of an identifier needs to be an letter or underscore. Subsequent characters can be letters, numbers, underscores or dollar signs, although by convention dollar signs are not used and underscores are only used in constants.

[kulangotski]

thanks jos for the tip, i will definitely look at the character class and iron thanks for the link, and just to make sure the general rule would be

a variable name can start with a dollar sign, an underscore and a letter. anything else would be illegal or are there any exceptions?

[JosAH]

thanks jos for the tip, i will definitely look at the character class and iron thanks for the link, and just to make sure the general rule would be

a variable name can start with a dollar sign, an underscore and a letter. anything else would be illegal or are there any exceptions?

Straight from the Character class API documentation:

A first character can be any of:

•isLetter(ch) returns true
•getType(ch) returns LETTER_NUMBER
•ch is a currency symbol (such as "$")
•ch is a connecting punctuation character (such as "_").

(for completeness) an (optional) following character can be any of:

•it is a letter
•it is a currency symbol (such as '$')
•it is a connecting punctuation character (such as '_')
•it is a digit
•it is a numeric letter (such as a Roman numeral character)
•it is a combining mark
•it is a non-spacing mark
•isIdentifierIgnorable returns true for the character

kind regards,

Jos

[kulangotski]

thanks jos for the quick answer :D

[JosAH]

thanks jos for the quick answer :D

You're welcome of course; personally I don't understand the last rule: one of the 'ignorable' characters is char 0x7f ('delete'); it can be part of a Java identifier. That would be a nice one for code obfuscation ;-)

kind regards,

Jos

[kulangotski]

yeah, I will hit up eclipse and try all those rules especially the last ones you mentioned. :D

regards

simon