The Object Class « Object class « Class

Object is a superclass of all other classes. Therefore, Object can refer to an object of any other class. Also, a variable of type Object can also refer to any array.

Object defines the following methods, which means that they are available in every object.

Methods from Object class

Return	Method	Purpose
Object	clone( )	Creates a new object that is the same as the object being cloned.
boolean	equals(Object object)	Determines whether one object is equal to another.
void	finalize( )	Called before an unused object is recycled.
Class	getClass( )	Obtains the class of an object at run time.
int	hashCode( )	Returns the hash code associated with the invoking object.
void	notify( )	Resumes execution of a thread waiting on the invoking object.
void	notifyAll( )	Resumes execution of all threads waiting on the invoking object.
String	toString( )	Returns a string that describes the object.
void	wait( )	Waits on another thread of execution.
void	wait(long milliseconds)	Waits on another thread of execution.
void	wait(long milliseconds, int nanoseconds)	Waits on another thread of execution.

The toString( ) method returns a string that contains a description of the object.

toString( ) method is automatically called when an object is output using println( ).