- All Implemented Interfaces:
- Serializable,- Comparable<RetentionPolicy>,- Constable
public enum RetentionPolicy extends Enum<RetentionPolicy>
Annotation retention policy.  The constants of this enumerated type
 describe the various policies for retaining annotations.  They are used
 in conjunction with the 
Retention meta-annotation type to specify
 how long annotations are to be retained.- Since:
- 1.5
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Nested Class Summary
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Enum Constant SummaryEnum Constants Enum Constant Description CLASSAnnotations are to be recorded in the class file by the compiler but need not be retained by the VM at run time.RUNTIMEAnnotations are to be recorded in the class file by the compiler and retained by the VM at run time, so they may be read reflectively.SOURCEAnnotations are to be discarded by the compiler.
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Method SummaryModifier and Type Method Description static RetentionPolicyvalueOf(String name)Returns the enum constant of this type with the specified name.static RetentionPolicy[]values()Returns an array containing the constants of this enum type, in the order they are declared.
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Enum Constant Details- 
SOURCEAnnotations are to be discarded by the compiler.
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CLASSAnnotations are to be recorded in the class file by the compiler but need not be retained by the VM at run time. This is the default behavior.
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RUNTIMEAnnotations are to be recorded in the class file by the compiler and retained by the VM at run time, so they may be read reflectively.- See Also:
- AnnotatedElement
 
 
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Method Details- 
valuesReturns an array containing the constants of this enum type, in the order they are declared.- Returns:
- an array containing the constants of this enum type, in the order they are declared
 
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valueOfReturns the enum constant of this type with the specified name. The string must match exactly an identifier used to declare an enum constant in this type. (Extraneous whitespace characters are not permitted.)- Parameters:
- name- the name of the enum constant to be returned.
- Returns:
- the enum constant with the specified name
- Throws:
- IllegalArgumentException- if this enum type has no constant with the specified name
- NullPointerException- if the argument is null
 
 
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