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Java Enum toString() method with example

Enum Class toString() method: Here, we are going to learn about the toString() method of Enum Class with its syntax and example.
Submitted by Preeti Jain, on December 10, 2019

Enum Class toString() method

• toString() method is available in java.lang package.
• toString() method is used to retrieve the name of this enum constant as it is declared in its enum declaration.
• toString() method is similar to name() method of Enum class but toString() mostly used by programmers which is tougher as compared to name() method of Enum class.
• toString() method is a non-static method, it is accessible with the class object only and if we try to access the method with the class name then we will get an error.
• toString() method does not throw an exception at the time of conversion an object to a string.

Syntax:

    public String toString();

Parameter(s):

• It does not accept any parameter.

Return value:

The return type of this method is String, it represents the name of this enum constant.

Example:

// Java program to demonstrate the example 
// of String toString() method of Enum 

enum Month {
    JAN,
    FEB,
    MAR,
    APR,
    MAY;
}

public class ToString {
    public static void main(String args[]) {

        Month m1 = Month.JAN;
        Month m2 = Month.FEB;
        Month m3 = Month.MAR;
        Month m4 = Month.APR;
        Month m5 = Month.MAY;

        System.out.println("Display String Representation: ");

        // By using toString() method is to return the name of
        //enum constant in its enum definition 
        System.out.println("m1.toString() " + " " + m1.toString());
        System.out.println("m2.toString()" + " " + m2.toString());
        System.out.println("m3.toString()" + " " + m3.toString());
        System.out.println("m4.toString()" + " " + m4.toString());
        System.out.println("m5.toString()" + " " + m5.toString());
    }
}

Output

Display String Representation: 
m1.toString()  JAN
m2.toString() FEB
m3.toString() MAR
m4.toString() APR
m5.toString() MAY