Access Modifier

Access modifiers are a set of keywords that determines the visibility and accessibility of classes, methods, and fields. Java provides four access levels correspond to four access modifiers.

• public
• protected
• default
• private

Public access modifier

Same class access	True
Same package subclass access	True
Same package non-subclass access	True
Different package subclass access	True
Different package non-subclass access	True
Key word: public

package p1;
 
public class A {
	public void display(){
		System.out.println("Hi there");
	}
}

package p2;
import package p1.*;
 
class B {
	public static void main(String args[]) {
		A obj = new A();
		obj.display();
	}
}

Hi there

Protected access modifier

Same class access	True
Same package subclass access	True
Same package non-subclass access	True
Different package subclass access	True
Different package non-subclass access	False
Keyword: protected

package p1;
 
public class A {
	protected void display(){
		System.out.println("Hi there");
	}
}

package p2;
import p1.*; 
 
class B extends A {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        B obj = new B();
        obj.display();
    }
}

Hi there

Default access modifier

Same class access	True
Same package subclass access	True
Same package non-subclass access	True
Different package subclass access	False
Different package non-subclass access	False

package p1;
 
class A {
	void display(){
		System.out.println("Hi there");
	}
}

package p2; 
import p1.*; 
 
class B { 
    public static void main(String args[]) { 
	    // Error when accessing class from another package
        A obj = new A(); 
        obj.display(); 
    } 
}

Compile time error

Private access modifier

Same class access	True
Same package subclass access	False
Same package non-subclass access	False
Different package subclass access	False
Different package non-subclass access	False
Keyword: private

package p1;
 
class A {
    private void display() {
        System.out.println("Hi there");
    }
}
 
class B {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        A obj = new A();
        
        // cannot access private method
        obj.display();
    }
}

error: display() has private access in A  
        obj.display();

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Reference

• https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/access-modifiers-java/