Question

I was trying to use use static imports on Java, but I was writing it wrong

static import java.lang.System.out;

And the code compiled (although the “out” symbol couldn’t be found), no syntax errors.

So, what does the “static import” actually means?

Answer 1

This should not compile.

static import java.lang.System.out;

According to the JLS, a single static import should look like this:

import static java.lang.System.out;

All forms of the Java import statement start with the import keyword, and I don’t think there is any other context (i.e. apart from an import statement) in which the import keyword can be used.

_{Note: the import and static keywords are not modifiers in this context, so the “modifiers can be supplied in any order” meta-rule does not apply here.}

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In short, either your compiler / IDE is broken or confused … or what you are looking at is not real Java source code.