What does the “static” modifier after “import” mea

Question

When used like this:

import static com.showboy.Myclass;

public class Anotherclass{}

what's the difference between import static com.showboy.Myclass and import com.showboy.Myclass?

Answer 1

There is no difference between those two imports you state. You can, however, use the static import to allow unqualified access to static members of other classes. Where I used to have to do this:

import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
      .
      .
      .
if (StringUtils.isBlank(aString)) {
      .
      .
      .

I can do this:

import static org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils.isBlank;
      .
      .
      .
if (isBlank(aString)) {
      .
      .
      .

Answer 2

The basic idea of static import is that whenever you are using a static class,a static variable or an enum,you can import them and save yourself from some typing.

I will elaborate my point with example.

import java.lang.Math;

class WithoutStaticImports {

 public static void main(String [] args) {
  System.out.println("round " + Math.round(1032.897));
  System.out.println("min " + Math.min(60,102));
 }
}

Same code, with static imports:

import static java.lang.System.out;
import static java.lang.Math.*;

class WithStaticImports {
  public static void main(String [] args) {
    out.println("round " + round(1032.897));
    out.println("min " + min(60,102));
  }
}

Note: static import can make your code confusing to read.