Java Variables
Variables are containers for storing data values.
In Java, there are different types of variables, for example:
String - stores text, such as "Hello". String values are surrounded by
double quotes
int - stores integers (whole numbers), without decimals, such as 123
or -123
float - stores floating point numbers, with decimals, such as 19.99 or
-19.99
char - stores single characters, such as 'a' or 'B'. Char values are
surrounded by single quotes
boolean - stores values with two states: true or false
Declaring (Creating) Variables
To create a variable in Java, you need to:
Choose a type (like int or String)
Give the variable a name (like x, age, or name)
Optionally assign it a value using =
Here's the basic syntax:
Syntax
type variableName = value;
For example, if you want to store some text, you can use a String:
Example
Create a variable called name of type String and assign it the value "John".
Then we use println() to print the name variable:
String name = "John";
System.out.println(name);
To create a variable that should store a number, you can use int:
Example
Create a variable called myNum of type int and assign it the value 15:
int myNum = 15;
System.out.println(myNum);
You can also declare a variable without assigning the value, and assign the
value later:
Example
int myNum;
myNum = 15;
System.out.println(myNum);
Note that if you assign a new value to an existing variable, it will overwrite
the previous value:
Example
Change the value of myNum from 15 to 20:
int myNum = 15;
myNum = 20; // myNum is now 20
System.out.println(myNum);
Final Variables
If you don't want others (or yourself) to overwrite existing values, use
the final keyword (this will declare the variable as "final" or "constant",
which means unchangeable and read-only):
Example
final int myNum = 15;
myNum = 20; // will generate an error: cannot assign a value to a
final variable
Other Types
A demonstration of how to declare variables of other types:
Example
int myNum = 5;
float myFloatNum = 5.99f;
char myLetter = 'D';
boolean myBool = true;
String myText = "Hello";
Java Print Variables
Display Variables
The println() method is often used to display variables.
To combine both text and a variable, use the + character:
Example
String name = "John";
System.out.println("Hello " + name);
You can also use the + character to add a variable to another variable:
Example
String firstName = "John ";
String lastName = "Doe";
String fullName = firstName + lastName;
System.out.println(fullName);
For numeric values, the + character works as a mathematical operator (notice
that we use int (integer) variables here):
Example
int x = 5;
int y = 6;
System.out.println(x + y); // Print the value of x + y
From the example above, you can expect:
x stores the value 5
y stores the value 6
Then we use the println() method to display the value of x + y,
which is 11
Java Declare Multiple Variables
Declare Many Variables
To declare more than one variable of the same type, you can use a comma-
separated list:
Example
Instead of writing:
int x = 5;
int y = 6;
int z = 50;
System.out.println(x + y + z);
You can simply write:
int x = 5, y = 6, z = 50;
System.out.println(x + y + z);
One Value to Multiple Variables
You can also assign the same value to multiple variables in one line:
Example
int x, y, z;
x = y = z = 50;
System.out.println(x + y + z);
Java Identifiers
Identifiers
All Java variables must be identified with unique names.
These unique names are called identifiers.
Identifiers can be short names (like x and y) or more descriptive names
(age, sum, totalVolume).
Example
// Good
int minutesPerHour = 60;
// OK, but not so easy to understand what m actually is
int m = 60;
The general rules for naming variables are:
Names can contain letters, digits, underscores, and dollar signs
Names must begin with a letter
Names should start with a lowercase letter, and cannot contain
whitespace
Names can also begin with $ and _
Names are case-sensitive ("myVar" and "myvar" are different
variables)
Reserved words (like Java keywords, such as int or boolean) cannot
be used as names
Real-Life Examples
Often in our examples, we simplify variable names to match their data type
(myInt or myNum for int types, myChar for char types, and so on). This is
done to avoid confusion.
However, for a practical example of using variables, we have created a
program that stores different data about a college student:
Example
// Student data
String studentName = "John Doe";
int studentID = 15;
int studentAge = 23;
float studentFee = 75.25f;
char studentGrade = 'B';
// Print variables
System.out.println("Student name: " + studentName);
System.out.println("Student id: " + studentID);
System.out.println("Student age: " + studentAge);
System.out.println("Student fee: " + studentFee);
System.out.println("Student grade: " + studentGrade);
Calculate the Area of a Rectangle
In this real-life example, we create a program to calculate the area of a
rectangle (by multiplying the length and width):
Example
// Create integer variables
int length = 4;
int width = 6;
int area;
// Calculate the area of a rectangle
area = length * width;
// Print variables
System.out.println("Length is: " + length);
System.out.println("Width is: " + width);
System.out.println("Area of the rectangle is: " + area);
