The Constant Pool

Java Virtual Machine instructions do not rely on the run-time layout of classes, interfaces, class instances, or arrays. Instead, instructions refer to symbolic information in the constant_pool table.

All constant_pool table entries have the following general format:

cp_info {
    u1 tag;
    u1 info[];
}

Each item in the constant_pool table must begin with a 1-byte tag indicating the kind of cp_info entry. The contents of the info array vary with the value of tag. The valid tags and their values are listed in Table 4.4-A. Each tag byte must be followed by two or more bytes giving information about the specific constant. The format of the additional information varies with the tag value.

Table 4.4-A. Constant pool tags

Constant Type Value
CONSTANT_Class 7
CONSTANT_Fieldref 9
CONSTANT_Methodref 10
CONSTANT_InterfaceMethodref 11
CONSTANT_String 8
CONSTANT_Integer 3
CONSTANT_Float 4
CONSTANT_Long 5
CONSTANT_Double 6
CONSTANT_NameAndType 12
CONSTANT_Utf8 1
CONSTANT_MethodHandle 15
CONSTANT_MethodType 16
CONSTANT_InvokeDynamic 18

 

4.4.1. The CONSTANT_Class_info Structure

The CONSTANT_Class_info structure is used to represent a class or an interface:

CONSTANT_Class_info {
    u1 tag;
    u2 name_index;
}

The items of the CONSTANT_Class_info structure are as follows:

tag

The tag item has the value CONSTANT_Class (7).

name_index

The value of the name_index item must be a valid index into the constant_pool table. The constant_pool entry at that index must be a CONSTANT_Utf8_info structure (§4.4.7) representing a valid binary class or interface name encoded in internal form (§4.2.1).

Because arrays are objects, the opcodes anewarray and multianewarray - but not the opcode new - can reference array "classes" via CONSTANT_Class_info structures in the constant_pool table. For such array classes, the name of the class is the descriptor of the array type (§4.3.2).

For example, the class name representing the two-dimensional array type int[][] is [[I, while the class name representing the type Thread[] is [Ljava/lang/Thread;.

An array type descriptor is valid only if it represents 255 or fewer dimensions.

4.4.2. The CONSTANT_Fieldref_info, CONSTANT_Methodref_info, and CONSTANT_InterfaceMethodref_info Structures

Fields, methods, and interface methods are represented by similar structures:

CONSTANT_Fieldref_info {
    u1 tag;
    u2 class_index;
    u2 name_and_type_index;
}

CONSTANT_Methodref_info {
    u1 tag;
    u2 class_index;
    u2 name_and_type_index;
}

CONSTANT_InterfaceMethodref_info {
    u1 tag;
    u2 class_index;
    u2 name_and_type_index;
}

The items of these structures are as follows:

tag

The tag item of a CONSTANT_Fieldref_info structure has the value CONSTANT_Fieldref (9).

The tag item of a CONSTANT_Methodref_info structure has the value CONSTANT_Methodref (10).

The tag item of a CONSTANT_InterfaceMethodref_info structure has the value CONSTANT_InterfaceMethodref (11).

class_index

The value of the class_index item must be a valid index into the constant_pool table. The constant_pool entry at that index must be a CONSTANT_Class_info structure (§4.4.1) representing a class or interface type that has the field or method as a member.

The class_index item of a CONSTANT_Methodref_info structure must be a class type, not an interface type.

The class_index item of a CONSTANT_InterfaceMethodref_info structure must be an interface type.

The class_index item of a CONSTANT_Fieldref_info structure may be either a class type or an interface type.

name_and_type_index

The value of the name_and_type_index item must be a valid index into the constant_pool table. The constant_pool entry at that index must be a CONSTANT_NameAndType_info structure (§4.4.6). This constant_pool entry indicates the name and descriptor of the field or method.

In a CONSTANT_Fieldref_info, the indicated descriptor must be a field descriptor (§4.3.2). Otherwise, the indicated descriptor must be a method descriptor (§4.3.3).

If the name of the method of a CONSTANT_Methodref_info structure begins with a '<' ('\u003c'), then the name must be the special name <init>, representing an instance initialization method (§2.9). The return type of such a method must be void.

4.4.3. The CONSTANT_String_info Structure

The CONSTANT_String_info structure is used to represent constant objects of the type String:

CONSTANT_String_info {
    u1 tag;
    u2 string_index;
}

The items of the CONSTANT_String_info structure are as follows:

tag

The tag item of the CONSTANT_String_info structure has the value CONSTANT_String (8).

string_index

The value of the string_index item must be a valid index into the constant_pool table. The constant_pool entry at that index must be a CONSTANT_Utf8_info structure (§4.4.7) representing the sequence of Unicode code points to which the String object is to be initialized.

4.4.4. The CONSTANT_Integer_info and CONSTANT_Float_info Structures

The CONSTANT_Integer_info and CONSTANT_Float_info structures represent 4-byte numeric (int and float) constants:

CONSTANT_Integer_info {
    u1 tag;
    u4 bytes;
}

CONSTANT_Float_info {
    u1 tag;
    u4 bytes;
}

The items of these structures are as follows:

tag

The tag item of the CONSTANT_Integer_info structure has the value CONSTANT_Integer (3).

The tag item of the CONSTANT_Float_info structure has the value CONSTANT_Float (4).

bytes

The bytes item of the CONSTANT_Integer_info structure represents the value of the int constant. The bytes of the value are stored in big-endian (high byte first) order.

The bytes item of the CONSTANT_Float_info structure represents the value of the float constant in IEEE 754 floating-point single format (§2.3.2). The bytes of the single format representation are stored in big-endian (high byte first) order.

The value represented by the CONSTANT_Float_info structure is determined as follows. The bytes of the value are first converted into an int constant bits. Then:

  • If bits is 0x7f800000, the float value will be positive infinity.

  • If bits is 0xff800000, the float value will be negative infinity.

  • If bits is in the range 0x7f800001 through 0x7fffffff or in the range 0xff800001 through 0xffffffff, the float value will be NaN.

  • In all other cases, let s, e, and m be three values that might be computed from bits:

    int s = ((bits >> 31) == 0) ? 1 : -1;
int e = ((bits >> 23) & 0xff);
int m = (e == 0) ?
          (bits & 0x7fffff) << 1 :
          (bits & 0x7fffff) | 0x800000;

Then the float value equals the result of the mathematical expression s · m · 2e-150.

4.4.5. The CONSTANT_Long_info and CONSTANT_Double_info Structures

The CONSTANT_Long_info and CONSTANT_Double_info represent 8-byte numeric (long and double) constants:

CONSTANT_Long_info {
    u1 tag;
    u4 high_bytes;
    u4 low_bytes;
}

CONSTANT_Double_info {
    u1 tag;
    u4 high_bytes;
    u4 low_bytes;
}

All 8-byte constants take up two entries in the constant_pool table of the class file. If a CONSTANT_Long_info or CONSTANT_Double_info structure is the item in the constant_pool table at index n, then the next usable item in the pool is located at index n+2. The constant_pool index n+1 must be valid but is considered unusable.

In retrospect, making 8-byte constants take two constant pool entries was a poor choice.

The items of these structures are as follows:

tag

The tag item of the CONSTANT_Long_info structure has the value CONSTANT_Long (5).

The tag item of the CONSTANT_Double_info structure has the value CONSTANT_Double (6).

high_bytes, low_bytes

The unsigned high_bytes and low_bytes items of the CONSTANT_Long_info structure together represent the value of the long constant

((long) high_bytes << 32) + low_bytes

where the bytes of each of high_bytes and low_bytes are stored in big-endian (high byte first) order.

The high_bytes and low_bytes items of the CONSTANT_Double_info structure together represent the double value in IEEE 754 floating-point double format (§2.3.2). The bytes of each item are stored in big-endian (high byte first) order.

The value represented by the CONSTANT_Double_info structure is determined as follows. The high_bytes and low_bytes items are converted into the long constant bits, which is equal to

((long) high_bytes << 32) + low_bytes

Then:

  • If bits is 0x7ff0000000000000L, the double value will be positive infinity.

  • If bits is 0xfff0000000000000L, the double value will be negative infinity.

  • If bits is in the range 0x7ff0000000000001L through 0x7fffffffffffffffL or in the range 0xfff0000000000001L through 0xffffffffffffffffL, the double value will be NaN.

  • In all other cases, let s, e, and m be three values that might be computed from bits:

    int s = ((bits >> 63) == 0) ? 1 : -1;
int e = (int)((bits >> 52) & 0x7ffL);
long m = (e == 0) ?
           (bits & 0xfffffffffffffL) << 1 :
           (bits & 0xfffffffffffffL) | 0x10000000000000L;

Then the floating-point value equals the double value of the mathematical expression s · m · 2e-1075.

4.4.6. The CONSTANT_NameAndType_info Structure

The CONSTANT_NameAndType_info structure is used to represent a field or method, without indicating which class or interface type it belongs to:

CONSTANT_NameAndType_info {
    u1 tag;
    u2 name_index;
    u2 descriptor_index;
}

The items of the CONSTANT_NameAndType_info structure are as follows:

tag

The tag item of the CONSTANT_NameAndType_info structure has the value CONSTANT_NameAndType (12).

name_index

The value of the name_index item must be a valid index into the constant_pool table. The constant_pool entry at that index must be a CONSTANT_Utf8_info structure (§4.4.7) representing either the special method name <init> (§2.9) or a valid unqualified name denoting a field or method (§4.2.2).

descriptor_index

The value of the descriptor_index item must be a valid index into the constant_pool table. The constant_pool entry at that index must be a CONSTANT_Utf8_info structure (§4.4.7) representing a valid field descriptor or method descriptor (§4.3.2, §4.3.3).

4.4.7. The CONSTANT_Utf8_info Structure

The CONSTANT_Utf8_info structure is used to represent constant string values:

CONSTANT_Utf8_info {
    u1 tag;
    u2 length;
    u1 bytes[length];
}

The items of the CONSTANT_Utf8_info structure are as follows:

tag

The tag item of the CONSTANT_Utf8_info structure has the value CONSTANT_Utf8 (1).

length

The value of the length item gives the number of bytes in the bytes array (not the length of the resulting string).

bytes[]

The bytes array contains the bytes of the string.

No byte may have the value (byte)0.

No byte may lie in the range (byte)0xf0 to (byte)0xff.

String content is encoded in modified UTF-8. Modified UTF-8 strings are encoded so that code point sequences that contain only non-null ASCII characters can be represented using only 1 byte per code point, but all code points in the Unicode codespace can be represented. Modified UTF-8 strings are not null-terminated. The encoding is as follows:

  • Code points in the range '\u0001' to '\u007F' are represented by a single byte:

    Table 4.4. 

    0 bits 6-0
     

    The 7 bits of data in the byte give the value of the code point represented.

  • The null code point ('\u0000') and code points in the range '\u0080' to '\u07FF' are represented by a pair of bytes x and y :

    Table 4.5. 

    x:

    Table 4.6. 

    1 1 0 bits 10-6
    y:

    Table 4.7. 

    1 0 bits 5-0
     

    The two bytes represent the code point with the value:

    ((x & 0x1f) << 6) + (y & 0x3f)

  • Code points in the range '\u0800' to '\uFFFF' are represented by 3 bytes x, y, and z :

    Table 4.8. 

    x:

    Table 4.9. 

    1 1 1 0 bits 15-12
    y:

    Table 4.10. 

    1 0 bits 11-6
    z:

    Table 4.11. 

    1 0 bits 5-0
     

    The three bytes represent the code point with the value:

    ((x & 0xf) << 12) + ((y & 0x3f) << 6) + (z & 0x3f)

  • Characters with code points above U+FFFF (so-called supplementary characters) are represented by separately encoding the two surrogate code units of their UTF-16 representation. Each of the surrogate code units is represented by three bytes. This means supplementary characters are represented by six bytes, u, v, w, x, y, and z :

    Table 4.12. 

    u:

    Table 4.13. 

    1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1
    v:

    Table 4.14. 

    1 0 1 0 (bits 20-16)-1
    w:

    Table 4.15. 

    1 0 bits 15-10
    x:

    Table 4.16. 

    1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1
    y:

    Table 4.17. 

    1 0 1 1 bits 9-6
    z:

    Table 4.18. 

    1 0 bits 5-0
     

    The six bytes represent the code point with the value:

    0x10000 + ((v & 0x0f) << 16) + ((w & 0x3f) << 10) +
((y & 0x0f) << 6) + (z & 0x3f)

The bytes of multibyte characters are stored in the class file in big-endian (high byte first) order.

There are two differences between this format and the "standard" UTF-8 format. First, the null character (char)0 is encoded using the 2-byte format rather than the 1-byte format, so that modified UTF-8 strings never have embedded nulls. Second, only the 1-byte, 2-byte, and 3-byte formats of standard UTF-8 are used. The Java Virtual Machine does not recognize the four-byte format of standard UTF-8; it uses its own two-times-three-byte format instead.

For more information regarding the standard UTF-8 format, see Section 3.9 Unicode Encoding Forms of The Unicode Standard, Version 6.0.0.

4.4.8. The CONSTANT_MethodHandle_info Structure

The CONSTANT_MethodHandle_info structure is used to represent a method handle:

CONSTANT_MethodHandle_info {
    u1 tag;
    u1 reference_kind;
    u2 reference_index;
}

The items of the CONSTANT_MethodHandle_info structure are the following:

tag

The tag item of the CONSTANT_MethodHandle_info structure has the value CONSTANT_MethodHandle (15).

reference_kind

The value of the reference_kind item must be in the range 1 to 9. The value denotes the kind of this method handle, which characterizes its bytecode behavior (§5.4.3.5).

reference_index

The value of the reference_index item must be a valid index into the constant_pool table. The constant_pool entry at that index must be as follows:

  • If the value of the reference_kind item is 1 (REF_getField), 2 (REF_getStatic), 3 (REF_putField), or 4 (REF_putStatic), then the constant_pool entry at that index must be a CONSTANT_Fieldref_info (§4.4.2) structure representing a field for which a method handle is to be created.

  • If the value of the reference_kind item is 5 (REF_invokeVirtual) or 8 (REF_newInvokeSpecial), then the constant_pool entry at that index must be a CONSTANT_Methodref_info structure (§4.4.2) representing a class's method or constructor (§2.9) for which a method handle is to be created.

  • If the value of the reference_kind item is 6 (REF_invokeStatic) or 7 (REF_invokeSpecial), then if the class file version number is less than 52.0, the constant_pool entry at that index must be a CONSTANT_Methodref_info structure representing a class's method for which a method handle is to be created; if the class file version number is 52.0 or above, the constant_pool entry at that index must be either a CONSTANT_Methodref_info structure or a CONSTANT_InterfaceMethodref_info structure (§4.4.2) representing a class's or interface's method for which a method handle is to be created.

  • If the value of the reference_kind item is 9 (REF_invokeInterface), then the constant_pool entry at that index must be a CONSTANT_InterfaceMethodref_info structure representing an interface's method for which a method handle is to be created.

If the value of the reference_kind item is 5 (REF_invokeVirtual), 6 (REF_invokeStatic), 7 (REF_invokeSpecial), or 9 (REF_invokeInterface), the name of the method represented by a CONSTANT_Methodref_info structure or a CONSTANT_InterfaceMethodref_info structure must not be <init> or <clinit>.

If the value is 8 (REF_newInvokeSpecial), the name of the method represented by a CONSTANT_Methodref_info structure must be <init>.

4.4.9. The CONSTANT_MethodType_info Structure

The CONSTANT_MethodType_info structure is used to represent a method type:

CONSTANT_MethodType_info {
    u1 tag;
    u2 descriptor_index;
}

The items of the CONSTANT_MethodType_info structure are as follows:

tag

The tag item of the CONSTANT_MethodType_info structure has the value CONSTANT_MethodType (16).

descriptor_index

The value of the descriptor_index item must be a valid index into the constant_pool table. The constant_pool entry at that index must be a CONSTANT_Utf8_info structure (§4.4.7) representing a method descriptor (§4.3.3).

4.4.10. The CONSTANT_InvokeDynamic_info Structure

The CONSTANT_InvokeDynamic_info structure is used by an invokedynamic instruction (§invokedynamic) to specify a bootstrap method, the dynamic invocation name, the argument and return types of the call, and optionally, a sequence of additional constants called static arguments to the bootstrap method.

CONSTANT_InvokeDynamic_info {
    u1 tag;
    u2 bootstrap_method_attr_index;
    u2 name_and_type_index;
}

The items of the CONSTANT_InvokeDynamic_info structure are as follows:

tag

The tag item of the CONSTANT_InvokeDynamic_info structure has the value CONSTANT_InvokeDynamic (18).

bootstrap_method_attr_index

The value of the bootstrap_method_attr_index item must be a valid index into the bootstrap_methods array of the bootstrap method table (§4.7.23) of this class file.

name_and_type_index

The value of the name_and_type_index item must be a valid index into the constant_pool table. The constant_pool entry at that index must be a CONSTANT_NameAndType_info structure (§4.4.6) representing a method name and method descriptor (§4.3.3).

4.5. Fields

Each field is described by a field_info structure.

No two fields in one class file may have the same name and descriptor (§4.3.2).

The structure has the following format:

field_info {
    u2             access_flags;
    u2             name_index;
    u2             descriptor_index;
    u2             attributes_count;
    attribute_info attributes[attributes_count];
}

The items of the field_info structure are as follows:

access_flags

The value of the access_flags item is a mask of flags used to denote access permission to and properties of this field. The interpretation of each flag, when set, is specified in Table 4.5-A.

Table 4.5-A. Field access and property flags

Flag Name Value Interpretation
ACC_PUBLIC 0x0001 Declared public; may be accessed from outside its package.
ACC_PRIVATE 0x0002 Declared private; usable only within the defining class.
ACC_PROTECTED 0x0004 Declared protected; may be accessed within subclasses.
ACC_STATIC 0x0008 Declared static.
ACC_FINAL 0x0010 Declared final; never directly assigned to after object construction (JLS §17.5).
ACC_VOLATILE 0x0040 Declared volatile; cannot be cached.
ACC_TRANSIENT 0x0080 Declared transient; not written or read by a persistent object manager.
ACC_SYNTHETIC 0x1000 Declared synthetic; not present in the source code.
ACC_ENUM 0x4000 Declared as an element of an enum.

 

Fields of classes may set any of the flags in Table 4.5-A. However, each field of a class may have at most one of its ACC_PUBLIC, ACC_PRIVATE, and ACC_PROTECTED flags set (JLS §8.3.1), and must not have both its ACC_FINAL and ACC_VOLATILE flags set (JLS §8.3.1.4).

Fields of interfaces must have their ACC_PUBLIC, ACC_STATIC, and ACC_FINAL flags set; they may have their ACC_SYNTHETIC flag set and must not have any of the other flags in Table 4.5-A set (JLS §9.3).

The ACC_SYNTHETIC flag indicates that this field was generated by a compiler and does not appear in source code.

The ACC_ENUM flag indicates that this field is used to hold an element of an enumerated type.

All bits of the access_flags item not assigned in Table 4.5-A are reserved for future use. They should be set to zero in generated class files and should be ignored by Java Virtual Machine implementations.

name_index

The value of the name_index item must be a valid index into the constant_pool table. The constant_pool entry at that index must be a CONSTANT_Utf8_info structure (§4.4.7) which represents a valid unqualified name denoting a field (§4.2.2).

descriptor_index

The value of the descriptor_index item must be a valid index into the constant_pool table. The constant_pool entry at that index must be a CONSTANT_Utf8_info structure (§4.4.7) which represents a valid field descriptor (§4.3.2).

attributes_count

The value of the attributes_count item indicates the number of additional attributes of this field.

attributes[]

Each value of the attributes table must be an attribute_info structure (§4.7).

A field can have any number of optional attributes associated with it.

The attributes defined by this specification as appearing in the attributes table of a field_info structure are listed in Table 4.7-C.

The rules concerning attributes defined to appear in the attributes table of a field_info structure are given in §4.7.

The rules concerning non-predefined attributes in the attributes table of a field_info structure are given in §4.7.1.