What is the meaning of “this” in Java?

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this refers to the current object.

Each non-static method runs in the context of an object. So if you have a class like this:

public class MyThisTest {
  private int a;

  public MyThisTest() {
    this(42); // calls the other constructor
  }

  public MyThisTest(int a) {
    this.a = a; // assigns the value of the parameter a to the field of the same name
  }

  public void frobnicate() {
    int a = 1;

    System.out.println(a); // refers to the local variable a
    System.out.println(this.a); // refers to the field a
    System.out.println(this); // refers to this entire object
  }

  public String toString() {
    return "MyThisTest a=" + a; // refers to the field a
  }
}

Then calling frobnicate() on new MyThisTest() will print 

1
42
MyThisTest a=42

So effectively you use it for multiple things:

  • clarify that you are talking about a field, when there’s also something else with the same name as a field
  • refer to the current object as a whole
  • invoke other constructors of the current class in your constructor

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