java.lang.annotation (Java Platform SE 8 )
Keywords: java.lang.annotation package
Date: 2026-03-16

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# Package java.lang.annotation

Provides library support for the Java programming language annotation facility.

See: Description

- Interface Summary
  Interface | Description
  --- | ---
  Annotation | The common interface extended by all annotation types.

- Enum Summary
  Enum | Description
  --- | ---
  ElementType | The constants of this enumerated type provide a simple classification of the syntactic locations where annotations may appear in a Java program.
  RetentionPolicy | Annotation retention policy.

- Exception Summary
  Exception | Description
  --- | ---
  AnnotationTypeMismatchException | Thrown to indicate that a program has attempted to access an element of an annotation whose type has changed after the annotation was compiled (or serialized).
  IncompleteAnnotationException | Thrown to indicate that a program has attempted to access an element of an annotation type that was added to the annotation type definition after the annotation was compiled (or serialized).

- Error Summary
  Error | Description
  --- | ---
  AnnotationFormatError | Thrown when the annotation parser attempts to read an annotation from a class file and determines that the annotation is malformed.

- Annotation Types Summary
  Annotation Type | Description
  --- | ---
  Documented | Indicates that annotations with a type are to be documented by javadoc and similar tools by default.
  Inherited | Indicates that an annotation type is automatically inherited.
  Native | Indicates that a field defining a constant value may be referenced from native code.
  Repeatable | The annotation type `java.lang.annotation.Repeatable` is used to indicate that the annotation type whose declaration it (meta-)annotates is repeatable.
  Retention | Indicates how long annotations with the annotated type are to be retained.
  Target | Indicates the contexts in which an annotation type is applicable.

## Package java.lang.annotation Description

Provides library support for the Java programming language annotation facility.

Since:
  1.5

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