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The Java™ Tutorials
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Constructors
Trail: The Reflection API
Lesson: Members

Constructors

A constructor is used in the creation of an object that is an instance of a class. Typically it performs operations required to initialize the class before methods are invoked or fields are accessed. Constructors are never inherited.

Similar to methods, reflection provides APIs to discover and retrieve the constructors of a class and obtain declaration information such as the modifiers, parameters, annotations, and thrown exceptions. New instances of classes may also be created using a specified constructor. The key classes used when working with constructors are Class and java.lang.reflect.Constructor. Common operations involving constructors are covered in the following sections:


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