In Java, using the final keyword to modify the class means that the class cannot be inherited. Specific reasons include: 1. Forced to keep specific behavior unchanged; 2. Protect sensitive logic or security-related code from being modified; 3. Ensure thread safety or immutability (such as String class). The main applicable scenarios are: 1. Security-sensitive classes; 2. Immutable classes; 3. Tools or auxiliary classes. If you try to inherit the final class, a compilation error will be raised. For example, after defining the final class Animal, the Dog class attempt to inherit will cause the compilation to fail. In addition, the methods of the final class cannot be overwritten because there is no inheritance relationship.
In Java, using the final
keyword for a class means that the class cannot be subclassed. That's it—no other class can extend a final class.
Why would you make a class final?
The main reason is to prevent inheritance. This might matter if:
- You want to enforce a specific behavior that shouldn't be changed.
- The class has sensitive logic or security-related code that shouldn't be altered.
- You're trying to ensure thread safety or immutability (like with
String
in Java).
For example, the String
class in Java is final
. That means nobody can create a subclass of String
and override its behavior. This helps keep things consistent and secure across the language.
When should you use final
on a class?
You don't need to mark every class as final, but there are good cases for doing so:
- Security-sensitive classes – like those handling encryption or user permissions.
- Immutable classes – such as value objects where changing behavior via inheritance could break assumptions.
- Utility or helper classes – sometimes these are not meant to be extended at all.
So if your class is designed to be a "leaf" in the class hierarchy and you never intend for anyone to extend it, marking it as final
makes that clear and enforces it at compile time.
What happens if someone tries to extend a final class?
If a class is declared final
, any attempt to extend it will result in a compilation error.
For example:
final class Animal { } class Dog extends Animal { } // Compilation error!
This won't compile because Dog
tries to inherit from a class that explicitly forbids inheritance.
It's also worth noting: making a class final
doesn't affect whether its methods can be overridden — because if the class can't be extended, there's no opportunity to override anything in the first place.
So yeah, final
on a class is pretty straightforward — it blocks subclassing. It's not always needed, but when used appropriately, it can help protect design intent and improve robustness.
The above is the detailed content of What is the `final` keyword for classes?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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