In earlier versions of Java, the underscore ("_") has used as an identifier or to create a variable name. Since Java 9, the underscore character is a reserved keyword and can't be used as an identifier or variable name. If we use a single underscore character as an identifier, the program fails to compile and throws a compile-time error because now it is a keyword and can't be used as a variable name in Java 9 or later versions.
Example
public class UnderscoreKeywordTest { public static void main(String args[]) { int _ = 50 System.out.println(_); } }
Output
UnderscoreKeywordTest.java:3: error: as of release 9, '_' is a keyword, and may not be used as an identifier int _ = 50; ^ UnderscoreKeywordTest.java:4: error: as of release 9, '_' is a keyword, and may not be used as an identifier System.out.println(_);